Music and Public Health

European Public Health Association (EUPHA), Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) and the Danish Society of Public Health organize the 4th European Public Health Conference in Copenhagen 10th to 12th of November (www.eupha.org). The day before the main conference starts, a pre-conference is arranged on the topic:

music and public health

The Blixen Hall, The Royal Library, Copenhagen, 9.11. 9.30-17.30

Purpose of conference: This is the first conference on music and public health in a Nordic country. Music as/in therapy is well established as an evidence based treatment modality all over the world, so we know a lot about how and why music can help people with physiological or psychological problems and pathologies. ‘Music and health’ is a broader field where the use of music experiences to promote health and wellbeing in everyday life is studied and promoted. Music psychologists, music therapists, musicologists and health professionals are creating a knowledge base for the focused application of music experiences and activities in a public health perspective.

The purpose of this preconference is to present state-of-the-art by three internationally wellknown keynote speakers and to give an overview of the Nordic experiences with music as health promotion, and to discuss problems and achievements.

Program structure: The program is divided in three sections: (1) International perspectives on music and public health; (2) Perspectives on music and public health as seen by the research Center of Music and Health, Oslo; (3) Scandinavian perspectives on music and health, as seen by leading researchers from Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. Different theoretical and practical models will be presented, and recent research results from clinical and non-clinical areas will be related to the public health perspective.

Programme committee: Lars Ole Bonde, Aalborg University (chair), in collaboration with Even Ruud, Gro Trondalen and Karette Stensæth, Center for music and Health, The Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo, and Finn Kamper-Jørgensen, EUPHA.

This preconference is made possible by economical support from

The Obel Family Foundation, Aalborg

Center for Music and Health, The Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo

Aalborg University, Dept. of Communication and Psychology & The Humanistic Faculty

Program

The conference aims at having ample time for questions, discussions and networking. The three keynotes will consist of 45 minutes presentations leaving 10 minutes for questions and discussion. The other papers will last 20 minutes leaving 5 minutes for questions and discussion. There are rather long lunch and coffee breaks giving time for networking.

0900 Registration starts – coffee in the Blixen Hall

0930 Welcome address. Lars Ole Bonde, Aalborg University and Center for music and Health, Oslo.

0940 Evolution of a Model for Music Therapy in Public Health. Suzanne Hanser, founding chair Music Therapy department at Berklee College of Music, Boston, USA, and author of the book “Manage your stress and pain through music”.

1030 Improvisation, Identity and Health. Raymond MacDonald, professor of music psychology at Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland, author/editor of several books on music, identity and health.

1130 Singing as a public health resource. Stephen Clift, professor of health education and head of the Sidney DeHaan Research Centre for Arts and Health, Canterbury Christ Church University, Folkestone UK.

1230 Lunch – in the Atrium Hall

1330 Round table with short presentations by researchers from Center for Music and Health, Olso Gro Trondalen, associate professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music and head of the center, Even Ruud, professor at Oslo University and the Norwegian Academy of Music, Karette Stensæth, associate professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music, Torill Vist, associate professor at University of Stavanger, Norway.

1445 Coffee break – in the Blixen Hall

1515 Music therapy in public health partnerships. Perspectives from community music therapy Brynjulf Stige, professor at Bergen University, Norway

15.45 Music and dementia - prophylactic perspectives. Hanne Mette Ridder, associate professor, Aalborg University, Denmark

1615 Music and health in everyday life Lasse Liliestam, professor at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden

1645 Music, emotions and adolescent mental health. Suvi Saarikallio, Academy of Finland Research Fellow, Finland

1715 Closing address. Lars Ole Bonde, Aalborg University, Denmark 1730 Closing

2000 Concert with Raymond MacDonald and Helle Lund Trio at Ingolfs kaffebar, Ingolfs Alle, 2300 Copenhagen S. DKK 100. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kReEJ7HaOGo

ABSTRACTS AND PRESENTATION OF SPEAKERS

International perspectives on music and public health – Three Keynotes

Suzanne B. Hanser, Ed.D., MT-BC is founding chair of the Music Therapy Department at Berklee College of Music. She is Past President of both the World Federation of Music Therapy and National Association for Music Therapy. Dr. Hanser has served as Music Therapist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Research Scholar at the Women’s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University. She received a National Research Service Award from the National Institute on Aging and was a Senior Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine. She authors “The New Music Therapist’s Handbook” and “Manage Your Stress and Pain through Music.” E-mail:

Evolution of a Model for Music Therapy in Public Health

Dr. Hanser describes the evolution of her ideas developed from music therapy clinical practice in childbirth, depression, and cancer. She discusses how personal observations and clinical findings led to the development of new protocols and research hypotheses. Positive findings from her experimental research studies spurred questions about the psychoneuroimmunological underpinnings of the influence of music therapy interventions, and current work in this area is fruitful for explaining the Music Response. Dr. Hanser then examines how evidence-based strategies utilized in her research could be translated to the general public in a book and accompanying CD, “Manage Your Stress and Pain through Music” (co-authored with Dr. Susan Mandel). Meanwhile, new models of public health, such as mind-body medicine and integrative medicine, were re-introducing ancient practices such as acupuncture, and emphasizing natural ways to improve health through exercise and nutrition. The role of music therapy in these “innovative” approaches to modern healthcare is presented in the context of the bringing homeostasis to the autonomic nervous system, integrating music therapy into mind-body approaches, and playing a role in the new science of integrative medicine.

References relevant to the model:

Hanser, S.B. & Mandel, S. (2010). Manage Your Stress and Pain through Music. Boston: Berklee Press.

Hanser, S.B. (2010). Music, health, and well-being. In P.N. Juslin & J.A. Sloboda (Eds.), Handbook of music and emotion: Theory, research, applications. Oxford, UK: Oxford Univ. Press.

Hanser, S.B. (2009). From ancient to integrative medicine: Models for music therapy. Music and Medicine, 1(2), 87-96.

References relevant to the evolution of the model:

Hanser, S.B., Butterfield-Whitcomb, J., Kawata, M.,& Collins, B. (2011). Home-based music strategies with individuals who have dementia and their family caregivers, Journal of Music Therapy, 48(1), 2-27.

Mandel, S.E., Hanser, S.B., Ryan, L. (2010). Effects on a music-assisted relaxation and imagery compact disc recording on health-related outcomes in cardiac rehabilitation. Music Therapy Perspectives, 28, 11-21.

Deng, G.E. et al. (including Hanser, S.B.) (2009). Evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for integrative oncology: Complementary therapies and botanicals. Journal of the Society for Integrative Oncology, 7(3), 85-120.

Mandel, S.E., Hanser, S.B., Secic, M, & Davis, B.A. (2007). Effects of music therapy on health-related outcomes in cardiac rehabilitation: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Music Therapy, 44(3), 176-197.

Hanser, S.B., Bauer-Wu, S., Kubicek, L., Healey, M., Manola, J., Hernandez, M., & Bunnell, C. (2006). Effects of a music therapy intervention on quality of life and distress in women with metastatic breast cancer. Journal of the Society for Integrative Oncology, 5(1), 14-23.

Hanser, S.B. (2004). A phenomenological analysis of music in childbirth. The Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism, and Practice, 9. www.lesley.edu/journals/jppp/9/index.html.

Hanser, S.B. (1996). Music therapy to reduce anxiety, agitation, and depression. Nursing Home Medicine, 4(10), 286-291.

Hanser, S.B. (1996). Evolution of a research experiment: A personal account. Music Therapy International Report, 10, 20-22.

Hanser, S.B., & Thompson, L.W. (1994). Effects of a music therapy strategy on depressed older adults. Journal of Gerontology, 49(6), 265-269.

Hanser, S.B. (1990). A music therapy strategy for depressed older adults in the community. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 9(3), 283-298.

Hanser, S.B. (1989). Music therapy with depressed older adults. Journal of the International Association of Music for the Handicapped, 4(4), 16-27.

Hanser, S.B. (1988). Controversy in music listening/stress reduction research. Arts in Psychotherapy, 15, 211-217.

Hanser, S.B. (1985). Music therapy and stress reduction research. Journal of Music Therapy, 22(4), 193-206.

Hanser, S.B., Larson, S.C., & O'Connell, A.S. (1983). The effect of music on relaxation of expectant mothers during labor. Journal of Music Therapy, 20(2), 50-58.

Raymond MacDonald is Professor of Music Psychology and Improvisation at Glasgow Caledonian University. After completing his PhD at the University of Glasgow, investigating therapeutic applications of music, he worked as Artistic Director for a music company, Sounds of Progress, specialising in working with people who have special needs. He has published over 70 papers and co-edited four texts Musical Identities (2002) Musical Communication (2005) and Musical Imaginations (2012) and Music Health and Wellbeing (2012). He is Editor of the journal Psychology of Music and Associate Editor for The International Journal of Music Education, Musicae Scientae, Jazz Research Journal and Research Studies in Music Education. As a saxophonist and composer he has recorded over 50 CDs and toured and broadcast worldwide.

Improvisation, Identity and Health

This paper presents an overview of current conceptions of improvisation, highlighting a number of key themes in relation to improvisation and musical identities within a health care context (MacDonald, Kreutz and Mitchell, in press). Musical identities refer to the multitude of ways in which interactions with music (both listening and playing) can influence our sense of self (Donald, Hargreaves and Miell, 2002). An overview of the concept of musical identities will be discussed and the presentation also describes and reports the results of a music therapy research project that utilised improvisation as a central feature (Pothulaki, MacDonald and Flowers, in press). The research project involved nine patients with terminal cancer participating in a nine-week music therapy programme. All participants were interviewed before and after the intervention and the transcripts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The analysis revealed a number of themes including: role of music in everyday life; perceived benefits of the intervention, positive feelings and the musical experience, group interaction/dynamics, free expression-communicating through music, creating space “making time for myself”. These themes reveal important issues in relation to health psychology, music psychology and music therapy, highlighting the important role of music as an innovative psychological intervention in a health care setting.

References

MacDonald R.A.R, &. Kreutz, G Mitchell, L.A., EDS (2012). Music, Health and Wellbeing Oxford: Oxford University Press.

MacDonald R.A.R, Miell D & Hargreaves D.J. EDS (2002). Musical Identities Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Pothoulaki, M., MacDonald, R.A.R and Flowers, P (in press) An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of an Improvisational Music Therapy Program for Cancer Patients Journal of Music Therapy

Stephen Clift is Professor of Health Education in the Faculty of Health and Social Care, Canterbury Christ Church University, and Research Director of the Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Music, Arts and Health. He has worked in the field of health promotion and public health for over twenty-five years, and has made contributions to research, practice and training on HIV/AIDS prevention, sex education, international travel and health and the health promoting school. His current interests relate to arts and heath and particularly the potential value of group singing for health and wellbeing. He is one of the founding editors of Arts & Health: An international journal for research, policy and practice and Honorary President of the Singing Hospitals International Network.

Group singing as a public health intervention

The work of the WHO Commission of the Social Determinants of Health, under the leadership of Michael Marmot presents a considerable challenge to anyone proposing that music has some contribution to make to public health. The Commission has worked on a global level and is now focused on the European region, and has highlighted substantial inequities in health across and within countries, associated with powerful political, economic and social factors. Strikingly, however, it has given no consideration to the role of music, or the wider field of creative arts as potential contributors to positive health and wellbeing. In this presentation a case is made for the contribution of group singing in promoting psychological and social wellbeing and in helping to meet a number of key challenges linked to an increasingly elderly population and the growing burden of long-term conditions. The Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health is currently engaged in a progressive research programme exploring the value of group singing for wellbeing and health. The programme started with a systematic review of all available published evidence and a major cross-national survey of choral singers in England, Germany and Australia. This provided the basis for establishing and evaluating networks of singing groups for people over the age of 60; people with severe and enduring mental health issues; people diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and people with Parkinson’s disease. Key findings from these studies will be presented. The major challenges in this field of work are to assess the extent to which active involvement in group singing can be beneficial for wellbeing and health and to identify its specific mechanisms of action. Equally important challenges are to demonstrate that such activity can be organised on a sufficient scale to have relevance for public health; and to assess potential cost-savings to health services from a health economics standpoint.

References

Clift, S. and Hancox, G.(2010) The significance of choral singing for sustaining psychological wellbeing: Findings from a survey of choristers in England, Australia and Germany, Music Performance Research, 3, 1, 79-96. Available at: http://mpr-online.net/

Clift, S. and Morrison, I. (2011) Group singing fosters mental health and wellbeing: Findings from the East Kent ‘Singing for Health’ Network Project, Mental Health and Social Inclusion, 15, 2, 88-97.

Clift, S., Nicols, J., Raisbeck, M., Whitmore, C. and Morrison, I. (2010) Group singing, wellbeing and health: A systematic review, The UNESCO Journal, 2, 1. Available at: http://www.abp.unimelb.edu.au/unesco/ejournal/