Sound of well-being – choir singing as an intervention to improve well-being among employees in two Norwegian county hospitals

Abstract

Objective: Interventions promoting a healthy psychosocial work environment are common, yet little is known about participation and effectiveness of such measures. The aim of this study was to describe differences between participants and nonparticipants in the Sound of Wellbeing (SOW) initiative, including a variety of demographic characteristics, perceived work environment, psychological factors and self-perceived health. The study also compared the participants' and non-participants' retrospective perception of change in the psychosocial work environment and their health during the project period. Methods: In this cultural organizational-level intervention, employees in two county hospitals participated as singers with different hospital departments forming their own choir. The majority of employees (1431 employees; 57.4%) completed a survey questionnaire after the intervention, of which 426 (29.8%) had participated. Results: We analysed the differences between participants and non-participants on several descriptive characteristics, personality, engagement, commitment, general health and demand-control-support, as well as their self-perceived change in some of these variables. Lower participation was found among men, employees above 62 and below 38 years of age, part-time employees, university-educated workers and health care workers. Furthermore, we found more engagement, organizational commitment and self-reported positive change with regard to psychosocial work environment and global health in participants compared to non-participants. Conclusions: The intervention showed promising results for incorporating cultural activities in the work environment, but further investigation of the effectiveness of organizational-level interventions using a pre-post design is needed.

Unfreezing identities: Exploring choral singing in the workplace

“…The purpose of this study is to build on the indication that choral singing does affect employees of an organization (Vaag et al 2013) and explore what goes on in the minds and bodies of the participants, specifically:…”

“…The project was part of the government programme, Inclusive Worklife, which aimed to reduce absenteeism and improve well-being. A study (Vaag et al 2013) compared the participants' and non-participants' retrospective perception of change in the psychosocial work environment and their health during the project period. Measurable differences in well-being indicators between participants and non-participants were found (although not seen to be very strong) in terms of engagement, organizational commitment and selfreported change in the psychosocial work environment and in overall health.…”

Korsang som recovery-fremmende tiltak for personer med psykiske helseplager [Choral singing as a recovery-promoting intervention: A qualitative study]

“…Flere studier viser at kordeltakelse gir økt energi, økt selvtillit og tro på seg selv, samt at det har positiv effekt på helsen for øvrig (Dingle, Brander, Ballantyne & Baker, 2013;Vaag, Saksvik, Theorell, Skillingstad & Bjerkeset, 2013;Ørjasaeter, Stickley, Hedlund & Ness, 2017). Korsang oppleves av mange som en gledesfylt aktivitet som har potensial til å berike livet til deltakerne (Judd & Pooley, 2014).…”

‘Sound of Well-being’ revisited – Choir singing and well-being among Norwegian municipal employees

“…We recently reported results from a cross-sectional study of 1431 Norwegian hospital employees who participated in a retrospective questionnaire survey of a choir-singing intervention called 'Sound of Wellbeing (SOW)' (Milch et al 2013;Vaag et al 2013). In SOW, three professional pop and rock musicians helped carry out an organizational intervention.…”