Abstract Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD) affect more than 6 million adults over 65, with family members providing most of the care for persons living with dementia (PLWD). During AD progression, behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), like agitation, anxiety, and depression, are common. This can lead to stress and depression among care partners. Thus, interventions must be developed to aid both members of the PLWD-care partner dyad. Music-based interventions are effective, non- pharmacological treatments that reduce BPSD in PLWD and care partner stress. However, most existing music-based interventions target only the PLWD or the care partner, but not both dyad members simultaneously. Improvisation music therapy is a type of music therapy that uses creative and meaningful musical exchanges to move patients toward emotionally desirable states. Improvisation music therapy promotes rapid and novel idea generation, emotional awareness, and execution of unplanned motor sequences. For these reasons, improvisation music therapy may be able to reduce stress through emotion regulation in PLWD-care partner dyads. The candidate’s long-term goal is to become an independent investigator who examines mechanisms by which music-based interventions improve health and well-being among PLWD and their care partners. For this career development award, the candidate’s short-term goal is to investigate the impact of an improvisation MT intervention prototype on behavior change (BPSD reduction in the PLWD, increased well-being and decreased burden in the caregiver) through stress reduction. The proposed research project aims to 1) standardize an improvisation music therapy intervention prototype for the PLWD-care partner dyad, 2) evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of this intervention, and 3) complete a pilot study to examine whether stress reduction and emotional regulation are potential mechanisms for positive behavior change. This K01 project