Music and public health - An empirical study of the use of music in the daily life of adult Danes and the health implications of musical participation

Background: Music and public health is a fairly new field of study. Scientific studies document that participation in cultural activities (in general) can have a positive influence on health, however, music as a specific cultural activity has only been explored empirically in studies with small samp...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Arts & health 2016-05, Vol.8 (2), p.154-168
Main Authors: Ekholm, O., Juel, K., Bonde, L.O.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Health behavior
health musicing
health survey
music and health behavior
music and public health
Music therapy
Musical instruments
prophylaxis
Public health
Regression analysis
Singing
Statistics
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Background: Music and public health is a fairly new field of study. Scientific studies document that participation in cultural activities (in general) can have a positive influence on health, however, music as a specific cultural activity has only been explored empirically in studies with small samples, mainly focusing on health benefits of participating in choral singing. Methods: This study originates from and was part of the Danish Health and Morbidity Surveys (2013) with a representative sample of adult Danes as participants (n = 25,000). The survey included specific music questions, based on a review of the literature. Results: Musical behavior and beliefs are presented as descriptive statistics. Multiple logistic regression models are used to examine associations between various background variables and: (1) playing musical instruments/singing daily, (2) definitely believing that music activities and music experiences can help stay healthy. Conclusion: Musical behaviors and beliefs in the adult Danish population are identified, and the public health potential of musicking (singing, playing and listening to music) are discussed.
ISSN:1753-3015
1753-3023
DOI:10.1080/17533015.2015.1048696