"It is more Important than food sometimes"; Meanings and Functions of Music in the Lives of Autistic Adults Through a hermeneutic-phenomenological Lense.

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.

Can Dance and Music Make the Transition to a Sustainable Society More Feasible?

Transition 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.

[Clinical translation of genomic medicine]. / Stor potential när genomikdata kan implementeras i klinisk rutin.

Recent technical developments and early clinical examples support that precision medicine has potential to provide novel diagnostic and therapeutic solutions for patients with complex diseases, who are not responding to existing therapies. Those solutions will require integration of genomic data with routine clinical, imaging, sensor, biobank and registry data. Moreover, user-friendly tools for informed decision support for both patients and clinicians will be needed. While this will entail huge technical, ethical, societal and regulatory challenges, it may contribute to transforming and improving health care towards becoming predictive, preventive, personalised and participatory (4P-medicine).

Taking care of the researcher -a nature and art-related activity retreat: Sharing natural space puts humanity into perspective.

BACKGROUND: There has been an insufficient amount of studies that examine 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 into 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 online versions, could be useful for managing the pandemic and afterwards, in our new "normal".

Emotional Effects of Live and Recorded Music in Various Audiences and Listening Situations.

Background: We assume that the emotional response to music would correspond to increased levels of arousal, and that the valence of the music exemplified by sad or joyful music would be reflected in the listener, and that calming music would reduce anxiety. This study attempts to characterize the emotional responses to different kinds of listening. Methods: Three experiments were conducted: (1) School children were exposed to live chamber music, (2) two adult audiences who were accustomed to classical music as a genre listened to chamber music, and (3) elderly listeners were exposed to recorded classical music of a sad character with and without words. Participants were asked to fill in visual analogue 10-cm scales along dimensions of: tiredness-arousal, sadness-joy, and anxiety-calmness. Ratings before exposure were compared with ratings after exposure. Results: The strongest positive emotional responses were observed in the live performances for listeners accustomed to classical music. School children tended to become tired during the concert, particularly the youngest children. There was a calming effect among school children, but in the oldest category increased joy was reported. Conclusions: The findings indicate that emotional response to music varies by type of audience (young, old, experience of classical music), and live or recorded music.

Prevalence of mind and body exercises (MBE) in relation to demographics, self-rated health, and purchases of prescribed psychotropic drugs and analgesics.

This study aims to identify any differences regarding gender, age, socioeconomic status (SES), self-rated health, perceived stress and the purchase of prescribed drugs among people who practice mind and body exercises (MBE) extensively compared to people who do not. METHODS: The study includes 3,913 men and 4,803 women aged 20-72 who participated in the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH). The respondents were divided into three groups depending on frequency of MBE practice (never/seldom/often). Measures regarding MBE practice, health behaviors, self-rated health, and illnesses were drawn from the SLOSH questionnaire, while more objective measures of socioeconomic status and education were derived from registry data. In addition, data on purchases of prescription drugs for all respondents were included in the study. These data were obtained from the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register, which contains information about prescription drugs dispensed at Swedish pharmacies. Separate analyses were performed for mental MBE (mindfulness, meditation, relaxation techniques) and physical MBE (yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong), respectively. RESULTS: A high intensity MBE practice is cross-sectionally related to poor self-assessed health (sleeping problems, pain, depressive symptoms, mental disorders), high levels of stress, and high levels of purchases of psychotropic drugs and analgesics. These cross-sectional relationships are generally stronger for mental MBE than for bodily-directed MBE. More women than men are practicing MBE on a regular basis, and physically active people participate to a greater extent in MBE compared with the physically inactive. CONCLUSION: Overall, the study shows that frequent participation in mind and body exercises is associated with high levels of purchases of psychotropic drugs and analgesics as well as with poor self-assessed health and high levels of stress. However, since this is a cross-sectional study, it is impossible to establish cause and effect, and to further investigate the associations found; longitudinal studies that can account for temporality between covariates and MBE use are needed.

Arts as an ecological method to enhance quality of work experience of healthcare staff: a phenomenological-hermeneutic study.

This paper explores the impact of self-chosen arts-based recreational activities, as opposed to the traditional arts therapy activities, on the well-being of healthcare providers. Three qualitative case studies of programs in which arts-based activities were used to work with healthcare providers, lasting for 10 weeks each, are phenomenological-hermeneutically evaluated using interviews and focus groups. The findings show what we refer to as an "ecological" ripple of effects: (1) the arts-based activities helped to reduce individual stress and to enhance mood over time, (2) the activities helped to transform workplace relationships within wards, and (3) the arts humanized the overall work climate in the healthcare setting. These effects go beyond those of using the art production as a strategy for stress reduction and imply potential for a more encompassing role for the arts within healthcare.

Engagement in dance is associated with emotional competence in interplay with others.

This study has explored the relation between dance achievement and alexithymia in a larger Swedish population sample (Swedish Twin Registry) with a study sample of 5431 individuals. Dance achievement (CAQ) was assessed in relation to Alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale, TAS-20) including the three subscales: Difficulty Identifying Feelings (DIF), Difficulty Describing Feelings (DDF), and Externally Oriented Thinking (EOT). The results show a significant negative association between the TAS subscale (EOT) and creative achievement in dance. A high EOT score corresponds to poor ability to communicate feelings to the environment. There was no consistent association between the other factors DIF and DDF and dance achievement. Dance activity and training seem to be involved in the body's emotional interplay with others. Embodied cognition, emotional perception, and action are discussed as factors relevant to measuring the skill of a dancer.

Is cultural activity at work related to mental health in employees?

OBJECTIVE: To examine relationships between work-based cultural activities and mental employee health in working Swedes. HYPOTHESIS: A positive relationship between frequent cultural activity at work and good employee health was expected. RESEARCH DESIGN: Random sample of working Swedish men and women in three waves, 2006, 2008 and 2010, on average 60 % participation rate. METHODS: A postal questionnaire with questions about cultural activities organised for employees and about emotional exhaustion (Maslach) and depressive symptoms (short form of SCL). Employee assessments of "non-listening manager" and work environment ("psychological demands" and "decision latitude") as well as socioeconomic variables were covariates. Cross-sectional analyses for each study year as well as prospective analyses for 2006-2008 and 2008-2010 were performed. MAIN OUTCOME AND RESULTS: Lower frequency of cultural activities at work during the period of high unemployment. The effects of relationships with emotional exhaustion were more significant than those with depressive symptoms. The associations were attenuated when adjustments were made for manager function (does your manager listen?) and demand/control. Associations were more pronounced during the period with low unemployment and high cultural activity at work (2008). In a prospective analysis, cultural activity at work in 2008 had an independent statistically significant "protective" effect on emotional exhaustion in 2010. No corresponding such association was found between 2006 and 2008. CONCLUSIONS: Cultural activities at work vary according to business cycle and have a statistical association with mental employee health, particularly with emotional exhaustion. IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH: There are particularly pronounced statistical protective effects of frequent cultural activity at work on likelihood of emotional exhaustion among employees.