Pragmatic Implementation of a Music Intervention in Nursing Homes Before and During COVID-19

We conducted 2 trials of a music intervention for managing behaviors in nursing home (NH) residents with dementia, before (2019) and during (2021) the pandemic. In this report, we compare adherence fidelity across the trials using the Framework for Implementation Fidelity (FIF).

Cross-sectional, descriptive implementation comparison.

Fifty-four NHs randomized to receive the intervention (27 pre-COVID, 27 during COVID) METHODS: We compare the trials on the following FIF criteria: coverage (number of residents receiving the intervention); duration (minutes of music received per exposed day); frequency (percentage of residents with nursing staff use of music in the past week); and details of content (adherence to core components of the intervention). We report NH-level performance in each domain and compare characteristics of NHs in the bottom (low) and top (high) terciles of adherence.

Across FIF domains, adherence fidelity was lower during COVID compared with pre-COVID: coverage, residents exposed (COVID: 7.5, SD 5.6; pre-COVID: 12.7, SD 3.6); duration, music minutes per exposed day (COVID: 2.5, SD 5.1; pre-COVID: 27.1, SD 23.9); frequency, percentage of residents with nursing use of intervention in the past week (COVID: 15.0, SD 31.5; pre-COVID 40.4, SD 25.6); and details of content, compliance with core components of the intervention (COVID: 8.3, SD 1.9; pre-COVID 9.6, SD 2.0). In both trials, high-adherence fidelity NHs had better nursing staff ratios, greater percentages of Medicare residents, and lower percentages of Black residents, compared with low-fidelity NHs.

Adherence fidelity was worse in the COVID vs pre-COVID trial, despite adaptations between trials intended to reduce staff burden and increase clinical targeting of the intervention. Results may point to the long-term effects of COVID on quality improvement capacity in NHs and/or a lack of available resources in most NHs to implement complex behavioral interventions without direct research support.