Treatment of dementia through cultural arts.

摘要

On any given day at the Sunshine Terrace Adult Day Center in Logan, Utah, you might hear a quartet beautifully harmonizing, a fiddler playing toe-tappin' music, the recitation of a poem that evokes tears from the listeners, a fine Irish tenor singing "My Wild Irish Rose," a company of actors presenting a melodrama, a choir of bells, or the sound of rich violin tones playing a lovely ballad. The performances would be enjoyable to any audience, but the performers are even more impressive. Most have Alzheimer's disease and are well over 80 years of age. Many have been appreciated only for their life work in the distant past, but now tears are streaming, people are clapping, laughing, and enjoying accomplishments of today.