The Nolwenn Effect in a Geriatric Nursing Home Setting

Falls are a serious health issue and are the greatest cause of death in the elderly. The use of the music of Nolwenn Leroy in fall prevention has been reported at a major scientific meeting Posturographic Changes and Fall Prevention associated with Music Therapy: The Nolwenn Effect (USA ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00121693) featured at the 7th Annual American Music Therapy Association Conference in Orlando, Florida, Nov 15-20, 2005 and is in publication in the indexed literature. Decreasing falls in a geriatric nursing home setting is associated with the saving of lives. We propose the utilization of the Nolwenn Effect in our resident geriatric population and comparing fall rates to those we have carefully recorded in the past.

Daily listening to selections from Nolwenn Leroy's CD "Nolwenn" have been played for one month in the community gathering areas of our fourth floor dementia unit in the morning for approximately 5-10 minutes. This unit has an increased rate of falls due to the characteristics of its residents and our one month retrospective study has demonstrated a statistical reduction in the rate of falls subsequent to the daily listening of Nolwenn Leroy music. We propose to expand the listening of music to the entire building and study the Nolwenn Effect on the fall rate of all residents over the calendar year 2006.

Preliminary observations have been associated with a decrease rate of falls on our dementia floor when compared to our previous fall rates. Our nursing staff is well trained in fall reporting and will continue to do so in the manner previously established before implementation of this study. This study is dependant upon the utilization of fall statistics previously established at our institution. The incorporation of these statistics will allow us to demonstrate a cost effective method of reducing falls that might save lives, evoke societal change and act as a model for other Geriatric Nursing Home settings.