COMMUNITY MUSIC AND WELLBEING v.1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
COMMUNITY MUSIC AND WELLBEING: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY
IRAS ID
155533
Contact name
Andrew Fletcher
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Northumbria University
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
Clinically-based music therapy is proven to be effective, but tends to focus on individuals, rather than on community or public health. This PhD aims to explore the contexts and mechanisms underlying the relationship between music in community settings and wellbeing. The research will be based within the broad framework of the salutogenic model. Three case studies, within the health, arts and third sectors, will be undertaken to explore different contexts of community music and investigate ways to improve the delivery of such interventions.
Ethical approval is being sought in this instance for the first of those case studies, the Ferndene Youth Music Project (FYMP), which has been set up between Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust and Sage Gateshead.
The FYMP is a participatory music programme for patients at Ferndene, an inpatient centre for young people with emotional, learning and mental health difficulties. Music sessions will be held at Sage Gateshead and at Gateshead Old Town Hall. My involvement will be to partake in these activities and make ethnographic field notes, then to gather qualitative data from some participants via loosely-structured interviews. This data will inform the FYMP evaluation and also contribute towards the PhD aims.
Participants will be selected purposively on the basis of observed levels of engagement, then interviewed informally in the presence of a Ferndene staff member. ‘Prompts’ will be used, but the conversation is expected to be relatively free-form. The ultimate aim is to measure participants’ feelings about musical activity and to find ways of using music to improve general wellbeing in a public health context, with a view to preventing admission or readmission into mental health services.
REC name
London - Hampstead Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/2075
Date of REC Opinion
18 Nov 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion