Promoting well-being through group drumming with mental health service users and their carers

Abstract

Purpose: Music has been linked with well-being across clinical and community settings. Yet, research has focused on assessment of single dimensions of well-being and on the typical receiver of support services. Acknowledging the burden that a caring role encompasses and integrating recent proposals for a multifaceted definition of well-being, we explore the extent to which group drumming interventions translate into multidimensional well-being change for both mental health service users and carers. Method: Thirty-nine participants engaged in one of a series of community drumming programmes were assessed via semi-structured interviews (n = 11) and focus groups (n = 28) at the end of each programme. Data were analysed using IPA. Results and Conclusion: Emotional, psychological and social dimensions of well-being emerged for both patients and carers, accounted for through six themes: (1) hedonia: positive affect and pleasant physical effects of drumming; (2) agency: initiative and sense of control; (3) accomplishment: non-specific and in relation to musical goals; (4) engagement, through focus and flow; (5) a redefinition of self, through self-awareness, construction of a positive identity, self-prospection and incorporation of a musical identity; and (6) social well-being, through connectedness and positive relationships. The potential of such interventions for clinical contexts is discussed.

Health and Wellbeing in Higher Education: A Comparison of Music and Sport Students Through the Framework of Self Determination Theory

“…Studies of music and sport students have suggested high levels of wellbeing (e.g., Malebo et al, 2007;Ascenso et al, 2018a), yet worrying levels of vocation-related physical and mental health problems (e.g., Hildebrandt et al, 2012;Bauman, 2016;Spahn et al, 2017;Schinke et al, 2018). Bearing in mind this paradox, and against a background which suggests there are generally poor levels of mental health in HE students, this study compared wellbeing and trait patterns in music, sport and other students.…”

Arts, mental distress, mental health functioning & life satisfaction: fixed-effects analyses of a nationally-representative panel study

“…Whether there are different causal effects of arts participation and cultural attendance on mental functioning remains to be explored further. But this proposed difference in mechanisms between the two types of engagement is supported by several intervention studies that have identified improvements in aspects of functioning such as self-efficacy, agency and purpose as a result of arts participation [47].…”

Resounding Meaning: A PERMA Wellbeing Profile of Classical Musicians

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