The music therapy assessment tool in Alzheimer's patients.

1. Empirical research is needed to evaluate immediate and sustained physiological, psychological, and psychosocial therapeutic effects, if any, of music therapy on behavioral patterns of elderly institutionalized Alzheimer's patients. 2. The Music Therapy Assessment Tool (MTAT) was specifically designed and developed to assess the effects of music therapy on behavioral patterns of Alzheimer's disease patients. 3. Preliminary testing of the MTAT suggests that it has fairly high internal consistency and inter-rater reliability and warrants consideration as a research tool. 4. Musical intervention included familiar music to facilitate communication and socialization, ethnic and nostalgic music to stimulate reminiscence, and melodies with distinctive rhythmic patterns to enhance movement and behavioral repatterning.