Music therapy in psychotrauma has been scantily explored in Sweden. The few results available suggest that music therapy in psychotrauma can be an effective treatment. The question of resilience and its importance in treating psychotrauma with music therapy has also been sparsely explored. The purpose of the present thesis is, therefore, to explore how three music therapists with experience in psychotrauma treatment look at resilient approaches in patient's treatments. The research questions are: How do music therapists understand the concept of resilience? In what ways do music therapists think they can contribute to resilient approaches? Which music therapeutic methods can contribute to the development of resilience? The study is based on three semi-structured interviews that were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The result is presented in the form of an overall theme: Resource-oriented music therapy contributes to resilience in the treatment of psychotrauma. The theme consists of three main categories, which in turn comprise a number of subcategories. Finally, the results are discussed with theoretical points of departure on resilience and music therapy in treatment in psychotrauma. An insight into the importance of the work to music therapy is provided, and ideas on future research work that can be further developed are presented. 

Engaging with the arts and creative activities can be beneficial for both mental and physical health. There is a lot of robust evidence about using arts to support mental health and well-being. 

Arts and Health are clearly interwoven as a red thread in this 10 step program - “learning by doing” - concept, in which the embodied knowledge from guided body experiences will lead to a more conscious awareness of health. 

According to research the arts can also support students coping with stress and anxiety.

 Kulturaktiviteter kan påverka människors hälsa på olika sätt beroende på bakomliggande faktorer, såsom deras erfarenheter och genetik. Kulturen och konsten har ett naturligt sätt att transformera och integrera kunskap om både individkroppens och samhällskroppens hälsa. Kultur och konst har en icke-verbal kraft som går bakom ord och som därmed berör människor på en djupare känslomässig nivå än ord kan. Trots att kulturaktiviteter lätt kan distribueras och organiseras är de ännu inte en naturlig del av den integrerade vården. Människan är och tillhör ett system som är oskiljaktigt från sin kulturella kontext och därför kan kulturaktiviteter naturligt ”smitta av sig” på mänskliga system. Kultur kan länka personer till varandra genom processer av medkänsla, minska hierarkier och påverka minnesfunktioner och inlärning. Konst och kultur spelar därför en nyckelroll inom integrativ vård med dess olika kognitiva och känslomässiga triggerfunktioner för utvecklandet av känslonyansering och kognitiv flexibilitet.Detta kapitel lyfter kulturens och konstens transformerande effekter på mänskliga och vårdande system.

Through a historical perspective, the overall aim with this study is to deepen the understanding of arts and aesthetics, in relation to health, for the benefi- cial use in higher education programs. Since prehistoric time, mankind has been using different art forms for health reasons. Artwork created by a society is a product of the culture that prevails within that society. Aesthetics is con- nected to art, and it spans over a wider field than just art. This literature re- view study brings different historical views on arts, aesthetics, and creativity. The human need for art, music and health is essentially the same through the ages. By bringing in a historical perspective on the healing powers of art and aesthetics we can be better equipped to reintroduce arts in higher education also as a healthy factor. We need to understand our history to be able to create an understanding of the healthy meaning of art for future higher edu- cation students. Lessons that have been used for millennia must not be lost.

 There is robust evidence that the arts can be used to support mental health and well-being, but there are few studies on how to use the arts to prepare students, through higher education, to lead sustainable and healthy working lives. Preparation is needed for better learning environments in terms of creativity and health in curricula for higher academic education. In order to build an educational platform for "art & health" that facilitates a sustainable future working life for students, information was collected from creative music students. Interviews were conducted to create an interview guide for five subsequent individual in-depth interviews. Phenomenological hermeneutic analyzes were made. "Educating Meaning Instead of Perfection—Building a Health-Arts-Sustainability (HeArtS) Platform" was the result of the full interpretation. Meaning is not created by doing things you are good at. Students want a curriculum where the focus is on challenges; skills that you are not good at and therefore need to be stimulated as well as better collective self-awareness and body awareness training and sharing. Systematized arts intervention programs practiced in academia can be effective in increasing creativity in the workplace and sustainable health in future working lives. Higher education programs should include more art-related creativity training programs in the future. A 10-step program is presented as an example.

How can we use art to prepare students, through higher education, to lead a sustainable and healthy working life. Studies linking the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from the Agenda 2030 into higher education practice are few. The aim is to build embodied knowledge from our research on HeArtS – an educational platform for “Arts & Health & Sustainability” for future working life for students. Together we will explore different themes i.e.: “Educating meaning instead of perfection”, “Focus on challenges and skills that you are not good at” and “Collective self-awareness and body awareness training and sharing”- themes that can be effective for enhancing workplace creativity and sustainable health in working life. This presentation will inspire the use of more art-related creativity training in future higher academic programs and is part of the Erasmus Plus: ARTHEWE – program.

This case-study presents different strategies that were explored by the patient ́s mother (who is a researcher in music and medicine) when her 17-year-old daughter was diagnosed with ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) – also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). ME is not widely recognized in the Global as well as the Swedish population at large, and within healthcare there are no standardized recommended treatments, partly due to the lack of  published evidence-based studies. This case-study aims to provide insights into how the  Swedish healthcare system works, how different clinics and hospitals within it operate and interconnect; and how these contribute to health outcomes after 15 months of treatment.

The purpose of the study is to explore a new research methodology that will improve our understanding of "flow" through indicators of physiological and qualitative state. We examine indicators of ‘flow’ experienced by musicians of a youth string quartet, two women (25, 29), and two men (23, 24). Electrocardiogram (ECG) equipment was used to record heart rate variability (HRV) data throughout the four movements in one and the same quartet performed during two concerts. Individual physiological indicators of flow were supplemented by assessments of group ‘state flow’ (means from  standardized questionnaires) and a group interview in which the musicians provided qualitative data. A matrix was constructed for the characterization of different kinds of demands in the written music in each one of the four movements for each one of the musicians. HRV derived from ECG data showed non-significant trends for group state flow across the eight musical episodes. Individual-level analysis showed that compared to the other players the first violin player had the highest mean heart rate and the lowest increase in High Frequency power (HF) in HRV during this particular movement, particularly during the second concert. The qualitative data illustrated how an interplay of synchronised social interactions between this player and their colleagues during the musical performance was associated with a feeling of group state flow and served to support the first violinist. The case illustrates that the proposed mixed methodology drawing on physiological and qualitative data, has the potential to provide meaningful information about experiences of a flow state, both at individual and group level. Applications in future research are possible.

The purpose of the study is to explore a new research methodology that will improve our understanding of "flow" through indicators of physiological and qualitative state. We examine indicators of ‘flow’ experienced by musicians of a youth string quartet, two women (25, 29), and two men (23, 24). Electrocardiogram (ECG) equipment was used to record heart rate variability (HRV) data throughout the four movements in one and the same quartet performed during two concerts. Individual physiological indicators of flow were supplemented by assessments of group ‘state flow’ (means from standardized questionnaires) and a group interview in which the musicians provided qualitative data. A matrix was constructed for the characterization of different kinds of demands in the written music in each one of the four movements for each one of the musicians. HRV derived from ECG data showed non-significant trends for group state flow across the eight musical episodes. Individual-level analysis showed that compared to the other players the first violin player had the highest mean heart rate and the lowest increase in High Frequency power (HF) in HRV during this particular movement, particularly during the second concert. The qualitative data illustrated how an interplay of synchronised social interactions between this player and their colleagues during the musical performance was associated with a feeling of group state flow and served to support the first violinist. The case illustrates that the proposed mixed methodology drawing on physiological and qualitative data, has the potential to provide meaningful information about experiences of a flow state, both at individual and group level. Applications in future research are possible.

AbstractTransition to sustainability is a process that requires change on all levels of society from the physical to the psychological. This review takes an interdisciplinary view of the landscapes of research that contribute to the development of pro-social behaviors that align with sustainability goals, or what we call ‘inner sustainability’. Engaging in musical and dance activities can make people feel trust and connectedness, promote prosocial behavior within a group, and also reduce prejudices between groups. Sustained engagement in these art forms brings change in a matter of seconds (such as hormonal changes and associated stress relief), months (such as improved emotional wellbeing and learning outcomes), and decades (such as structural changes to the brains of musicians and dancers and superior skills in expressing and understanding emotion). In this review, we bridge the often-separate domains of the arts and sciences by presenting evidence that suggests music and dance promote self-awareness, learning, care for others and wellbeing at individual and group levels. In doing so, we argue that artistic practices have a key role to play in leading the transformations necessary for a sustainable society. We require a movement of action that provides dance and music within a constructive framework for stimulating social sustainability.

BACKGROUND: There has been insufficient study about how academic working life of researchers can be supported. 

OBJECTIVE: We examine the use of a nature and art-related activity retreat designed for researchers. The purpose was to evaluate if and how researchers perceived different workshop experiences set in nature as meaningful and important with regards to their self-care. 

METHODS: A mixed group of six researchers from Sweden, Finland, and the United States met for a three-day retreat consisting of self-selected nature and art-related activities. From data constituted from participant reflections, a focus group interview, a three months follow-up questionnaire, and an analysis of the workshops undertaken; three major themes were identified: “Sharing and connection”, “Embodiment” and “Nature”.

RESULTS: Analysis of the workshop-style exercises did not show significant variance in reported meaningfulness and usefulness related to the activity itself. However, there was a strong correlation between perceived value and shared experience where the sharing of the natural space was felt to put humanity in perspective. 

CONCLUSION: Organizing and systematizing health preventive retreats for researchers in academia may be an important part of the sustainabile academic community in which the researcher needs to be better taken care of in a more embodied way. Although this study was conducted prior to COVID-19, such retreats and potentially also on-line versions) could be useful for managing through the pandemic and afterwards, in our new “normal”.

Both singing and playing instruments in a group have been described in narratives as activities that increase cohesiveness. It has been speculated that music making is at the core of cultural activities in the history of humans. Music, dance and religious rituals including visual arts may have arisen because it was necessary to create strong and reliable bonds in a group, and such activities were effective for achieving this goal. This may even have increased chances of survival in life-threatening environments and this may still be true.  According to our study of the Swedish Twin Registry, there is a clear relationship between total number of music practice hours in life (particularly ensemble practice) and ability to handle emotions. In monozygotic twins who are within-pair discordant with regard to piano-playing (one twin has practiced piano extensively and the other not) it has been shown that the size of the corpus callosum, the bridge between the right and the left hemispheres, is larger in the playing twin. Since corpus callosum is important not only for coordination of muscles in the right and left halves of the body but also for emotional skill this is of particular importance – music training may stimulate parts of the brain that govern emotion handling. During performance, strong group interactions can occur both within a music ensemble and between the ensemble and the audience. In our group we have an ongoing project MUSETHICA that examines biological, psychological and social processes when one ensemble plays the same piece in front of different audiences. Accordingly, the audience reaction is studied by means of visual analogue scales, group flow in the ensemble by means of a standardized questionnaire (flow synchronization scale) and heart rate variability on line (for the assessment of sympathetic and parasympathetic balance) during the concerts in all the members of the ensemble. Qualitative interview data focusing on perceived performance quality, group flow and support are collected. Results from a feasibility study will be presented. A string quartet whose young members are going through the advanced training program MUSETHICA for chamber music is performing the same quartet (Haydn opus 76 number 2, D minor) on two occasions the same day with two different audiences of school children aged 13-15. Despite the small size of the study sample the analyses of heart rate variability show that there was a borderline significant variability across the different movements on the two occasions with regard to parasympathetic (high frequency power) and sympathetic (heart rate) activity – with evidence of low sympathetic and high parasympathetic activity during the second occasion during the playing of movement 2. The children showed more uniform reactions on the second occasion according to VAS ratings. The feasibility study shows that it is practically possible to study these complex interactions and that the joint methodology has the potential of showing interesting processes related to group playing. 

In this article, we summarize some features of the growing research in mu- sic and health conducted in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The research traditions in the four countries have developed differently and com- plement each other. There is neurobiological and psychophysiological re- search with experimental elements, epidemiological investigations both of the prevalence in the population of people who experience music and the connection between musical activities and various aspects of health, as well as research on how different types of music listening and practicing music affect people psychologically and physiologically. Research on the role of music in emotional processing has also a central role in the field, as does the role of music in aging and in specific diseases. All of this has implications for music’s potential role in health work.

In this article, we summarize some features of the growing research in mu- sic and health conducted in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The research traditions in the four countries have developed differently and com- plement each other. There is neurobiological and psychophysiological re- search with experimental elements, epidemiological investigations both of the prevalence in the population of people who experience music and the connection between musical activities and various aspects of health, as well as research on how different types of music listening and practicing music affect people psychologically and physiologically. Research on the role of music in emotional processing has also a central role in the field, as does the role of music in aging and in specific diseases. All of this has implications for music’s potential role in health work.

The present study aimed to increase understanding of how singing activities may be initiated in primary school, and what support and assistance teachers require to conduct singing activities as an integrated part of the school day. Five music teachers participated in a focus group interview. The following main themes were identified: 1) pedagogical and methodological flexibility, 2) the role of routines and familiarity, 3) the embodied and multimodal dimensions of singing, 4) the importance of accompaniment and instruments, 5) the experience of insecurity and obstacles, and 6) the perceived synergies between singing and other learning activities. This knowledge may be important to integrate within music teacher education in order to secure singing’s place in schools. 

There are few studies on how to use art to prepare students, through higher education, to lead a sustainable and healthy working life. In order to enhance and develop the learning environments regarding creativity and health in higher academic education curricula, more studies are needed. Studies link- ing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from the agenda 2030 into higher education practice are also few. The aim of this study is to gather information from creative music students to be able to build an educational platform for “arts & health” that facilitates a sustainable future working life for students. The results from two focus group interviews were used to develop an interview guide for five following in-depth individual in- terviews. The analytical lens that was used to conduct the interviews was based on a phenomenological hermeneutic method. The complete interpre- tation of the study is: “Educating meaning instead of perfection—Building a Health-Arts-Sustainability (HeArtS) platform”. According to our results, mean- ing is not created by doing things that you are good at. The students want a curriculum where the focus is on challenges; skills that you are not good at and therefore need stimulating. The students want more collective self-aware- ness and body awareness training and sharing in their curricula. The results strongly imply that art-based curricula or the art intervention programs in- creasingly practiced in academia can be effective for enhancing workplace creativity and sustainable health in working life. Therefore, we suggest that higher educational programs should employ more art-related creativity train- ing programs in the future.

Listening to music – various audiences in our future societies

Eva Bojner Horwitz and David Thyrén, Royal College of Music in Stockholm

That music listening can have strong emotional effects is widely accepted, and it is also known that the effects depend on several individual and environmental factors. There are different elements of the musical experience that influence the emotional response of the listener, of which we will try to focus on four that have been explored in the literature and which relate to a newly published study. The social changes in our societies will affect our audiences and education. Therefore new musical arenas need to be developed  and more included through the whole lifespan.

Inspired by the research work with the "Culture Palette" and the implementation of it in health care centres, schools and social centers, we developed the cultural health box - a popular scientifically tool box, to help people use cultural activities (such as music, dance, stillness, drama, film and pictures) for health preventation. It is written by well-known resarchers in the field of cultural health and is a rich material that is useful in self-care work for musicians. The box will be presented together with historical perspectives and other research work targeting music as prevention in health care.  

 The concept of the knowledge concert was developed by researchers at the Royal College of Music and Karolinska Institute in Sweden where live musicians and scientific researchers creates a performance related to an important societal issue. The emotional evocativeness music allows it to act as a facilitator of knowledge acquisition which it is argued enriches the learning environment. In this study, we have built on the idea of the knowledge concert with a novel focus on Nobel prize winners’ work. Knowledge is generated from live musicians and narratives from a cicerone. The two originators will in this study develop the concept of Prelude before Nobel as a knowledge concert. Further knowledge related to the Nobel Prize scientific findings was obtained by listening to live music. In this experience thoughts and feelings were stimulated, which increased the receptivity and understanding of the Nobel Prize in terms of both content and meaning.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur körsångare upplever sitt sjungande och varför de vill sjunga i kör. Syftet är även att undersöka om körsångarna medvetet sjunger i kör för de positiva effekterna som kunnats visas i tidigare forskning. Metod för denna undersökning har varit semistrukturerade och ostrukturerade intervjuer med sex informanter samt observation av en kör på 30 personer.Resultaten visade att det inte går att säga att man som amatörsångare alltid sjunger i kör för den sociala gemenskapen, och de positiva effekter som kan uppstå i samband med körsång. Genom undersökningen har jag heller inte kunnat se att körsångare alltid upplever dessa positiva effekter av att sjunga i kör. Slutsatsen är att alla människor, oavsett om de sjunger i amatörkör eller avancerad kör kan få ut olika hälsoeffekter av att delta i körsång Det går inte att säga att alla amatörsångare får ut en likartad hälsoeffekt och professionella sångare en annan hälsoeffekt, utan deras upplevelser av hälsoeffekt skiljer sig från person till person.

Background: Music listening can improve acquisition of new knowledge.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the emotional and cognitive effects of a knowledge concerton the attending audience.

Methodology: The audience was asked to complete a Visual Analogue Scale (10 cm) before and after listening to the concert, along five variables: Arousal, Degree of happiness, Degree of worry, Daily worries and Benevolence. Follow-up qualitative interviews gathered narratives from the participants.

Findings: 228 concert attendees took part in the study by completing the questionnaires (51 percent of the whole audience). Statistically significant changes were observed in the outcome measures for: Arousal (p=0.002), Daily worries (p<0.001) and Degree of happiness (p=0.01). Degree of worry interacted with age (p<0.001). No changes were found for Benevolence (p=0.93). Gender and previous music experiences did not make a difference to feelings evoked by the music. Age, however, was important since younger participants became more worried by the concert than older.

Originality: We discuss the potential role of future knowledge concerts that comprise qualities explored, such as mitigating a variety of embodied psychological capacities, including reflection and agency in audiences, facilitating learning about sensitive issues, and potentially also transformation towards prosocial mindsets and behavior.

A web installation that uses blood glucose levels uploaded by diabetics to create music. Available at https://radiodiabetes.eu

Research with adults diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder is unfortuna- tely scarce. It is therefore difficult to know how music is being used, what its effects are as well as its meaning for the autistic population. In an ongoing doctoral project) we are trying to better understand the value and meanings of music, to develop music activities together with autistic people. We discuss the importance of including needs and wishes of persons with autism in future autism research. In the article below, we share a large number of references from our ongoing research.

Despite the fact that autistic people make up a significant portion of music therapy clients, we know about their subjective experience of music. Studies assessing the effectiveness of music interventions for autistic people mostly measure behavioural changes in social communication and interactions while disregarding well-being or quality of life. This raises important ethical questions. To gain a better understanding of how autistic adults view the relationship between music and well-being, we conducted interviews with 13 autistic participants (seven women and six men) who shared their experiences and understanding of music. The findings reveal the extensive and profound significance of music, encompassing everything from seemingly minor aspects, such as finding motivation to perform household chores, to existential questions like the choice to stay alive. The purpose of this presentation is to connect these findings with the fundamental psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness and to demonstrate how music can play a role in the well-being and empowerment of autistic adults. This knowledge can help in setting new goals and methods for measuring the effects of musical activities in future studies

Subjective experiences of autistic adults remain under-researched, especially in the field of art. To learn more about their uses and functions of music, we interviewed 13 autistic adults and, through a hermeneutic-phenomenological analysis, found four overarching themes: Well-being, Identity and self-development, Connectedness, and Negative experiences. Findings show a broad and deep meaning of music in their lives, spanning from seemingly trivial functions such as making chores more enjoyable to existential questions such as choosing to stay alive. We discuss the often-overlooked negative effects or experiences of music, noting that positive and negative effects must always be addressed together if we are to use music to lower stress and support well-being.

Purpose: The objective of this scoping review is to compile and examine characteristics and impacts of live music interventions on the health and wellbeing of children, families, and health care professionals in paediatric hospital care.

Methods: We searched four scientific databases for peer-reviewed publications of empirical studies of all study designs. The first author screened the publications, with spot-checks for eligibility by the second and third authors. Data extraction and quality assessment were made by the first author with support from the second and third. Additionally, the included studies were screened for quality appraisal. The analysis followed an inductive, interpretive approach for synthesis.

Results: Quantitative features were screened and compiled, and qualitative inductive analyses of findings were elaborated into categories connected to research questions. The reported impacts were thematized through emergent features of importance and prerequisites beneficial for successful interventions. Recurrent outcomes present themes of positive affect, copingand reduced hospitalization. Emotional regulation, play and participation, age, session design, adaptivity, and familiarity present benefits, barriers, and facilitators for outcomes.

Conclusions: Findings from collected empirical research display philosophy, practice, and relations as keys for characteristics, impacts, and implications of live music interventions in paediatric hospital care. The communicative aspects of music appear at the core of importance.

Intresset för forskning, utbildning och utveckling inom social hållbarhet, inte minst under kriser, fortsätter att öka. Covid-19 pandemin, kriget i Ukraina, klimatförändringarna, den minskade biologiska mångfalden och potentiella hot såsom politisk polarisering och AI påverkar området social hållbarhet. För tio år sedan etablerades ”Centrum för social hållbarhet” (CSS) på Karolinska Institutet och olika forskare med sina perspektiv på ”Socialt hållbar utveckling – fokus på empati, compassion och altruism” bidrog till ett temanummer av Socialmedicinsk tidskrift 2013. För fem år sedan gav vi också ut temanumret ”Social hållbarhet” i Socialmedicinsk tidskrift 2018, och konstaterar att området är minst lika aktuellt idag. Vi har bjudit in forskargrupper som är intresserade av social hållbarhet, och tillsammans har vi skapat ett nytt temanummer där flera bidrag handlar om yttre och inre hållbarhet i relation till kriser.

Functions connected to mood and emotion regulation are often reported as the most frequent and important functions of music, particularly during adolescence. However, less is known on how adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID) use music for emotion regulation. The aim of this study was therefore to explore how adolescents with intellectual disabilities (n = 30) use music for mood regulation in comparison to adolescents without ID (n = 34). We assessed the seven mood-regulation strategies of the Music in Mood Regulation questionnaire, personality traits, mood, and a number of variables regarding music listening. The result showed that personality and mood were associated with the use of music for mood regulation and that adolescents with ID were less specific in their use of mood regulation strategies than adolescents without intellectual disabilities, even when adjusting for gender differences. In conclusion, the present study shows that personality traits in addition to mood is related to differences in usage of music for mood regulation among adolescents with and without intellectual disability. The study provides initial insights into the use of music and the relationships between personality, mood, and music in mood regulation in adolescents with intellectual disabilities.

Stress påverkar prestation, patientsäkerhet och arbetsmiljö inom hälso- ochsjukvården. Under kriser såsom tex Covid-19 pandemin, kan hög arbetsbelastning och arbete under tidspress, med begränsade resurser, då svåra beslut och prioriteringar behöver göras, leda till moralisk stress, vilket om det återkommande sker leda till moralisk ”skada” och stressrelaterad ohälsa. Därför är det viktigt att sjukvårdspersonal redan under sin utbildning får lära sig om hur de påverkas av stress och att identifiera olika moraliskt utmanande situationer, att de får träna olika stresshanteringsmetoder, samt tillämpa dem i olika simulerade akutmedicinska situationer. Utöver kunskap om stress utifrån ett individperspektiv behövs insikter kring hur stress kan genereras utifrån strukturella/organisatoriska förhållande som kan behöva åtgärdas i stället för eller parallellt med insatser på individ eller gruppnivå.