Research update: PhD – the next stage
I’m at an exciting stage as I begin the second year of my PhD research project looking at the impact of active engagement with music on health and wellbeing. Here’s an update on the story so far:
Over the last year I have read a great deal on the subject of the health and wellbeing of employees in the workplace and on the importance of play and creativity for health and wellbeing. This is a summary of my findings from reviewing this literature.
The problem
There is currently a high level of concern around occupational stress which can lead to poor work/life balance and burn-out.
The following key facts stand out:
· The World Health Authority states that stress is the health epidemic of the 21st century
· Stress is one of the main causes of sickness and absence from work in the UK with considerable cost to the economy
· A rise in economic output and the long hours culture has been accompanied by a rise in depression
At the same time it has been recognised that employees are a critical asset, and their wellbeing of strategic importance – a fact that was made very clear during the pandemic of 2020: a happy workforce is a productive workforce.
To deal with this, there are now many companies offering to provide wellbeing and recovery programmes to address occupational stress. However, as Mike Tyler from Fruit Insights (a company that helps business understand wellbeing issues) points out, although employers agree that promoting wellbeing is good for business because it leads to greater productivity, few understand what it really means or how to address it. This has resulted in market-driven interventions with little or no evidence to support their effectiveness.
What is wellbeing?
Wellbeing is globally recognised by The World Health Organisation as: “a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. This view is also supported by the Global Council on Brain Health.
There are many aspects of wellbeing, but they are broadly identified as: hedonic - the subjective experience of feelings - and eudaimonic, the objective observation of good psychological functioning, including a sense of competence, meaning and purpose. Taken together, these comprise “flourishing”. According to Self-Determination Theory, a state of wellbeing is attained when three basic psychological needs - competence, autonomy and relatedness - are satisfied. The key point here is that music-making has been shown to support the fulfilment of these qualities.
How music can help?
What I find striking is the lack of creativity in programmes designed to improve wellbeing – they typically offer a range of activities including mindfulness and yoga, but I have yet to come across any mention of the arts and music – they are not mentioned once in The Routledge Handbook of Workplace Wellbeing. On the other hand, Play and Playfulness for public health and wellbeing argues the case for introducing playfulness into people’s lives to strengthen the possibility for change through its transformational power.
Although the ability to make music is often considered the preserve of the talented few, it is in fact universal - musicality is a distinctive characteristic of humankind. It helps us connect with ourselves and each other.
Research into the wellbeing impact of music-making has burgeoned since the beginning of the century, and there is now a vast amount of literature confirming that listening and participating in music-making can improve our wellbeing in every respect: cognitive, emotional, physical, social. This is because of music’s capacity to activate many different areas of the brain at the same time.
Ignoring this amazing potential is, as The Global Council for Brain Health points out in its report “Music on our Minds”, a waste of a valuable resource.
The next stage:
Drawing on my own experience of teaching in a workplace context, I have witnessed the benefits first-hand and I conducted research into this for my MSc which I describe here:
https://www.musicteachermagazine.co.uk/content/features/workplace-teaching-keys-to-success
As a next step I am now planning to conduct case studies in three different workplace settings including the instrumental lessons at Riverbank House and a choir for staff in an NHS hospital.
Using the tools of ethnographic research, including observation and interviews, I will be seeking to discover in-depth data on the experiences of people who participate in music-making and learning situated in the workplace and what these experiences mean to them.
The results of this type of research are not generalisable across other situations, but I hope it will contribute to building theory that can influence decision-makers.
After all, if companies are happy to provide gyms and sports facilities for their employees, why not a music room?