Choir singing to improve the wellbeing of UAB staff
The UAB is conducting a study that involves evaluating the impact of an artistic activity among its staff, and has chosen choral singing as the activity. Some fifty people, including lecturers and technical, management, and administrative and service staff, participate voluntarily; they rehearse on campus every Wednesday under the direction of the choir director, while the research team analyses whether this activity improves their emotional well-being and reduces anxiety.
The project, funded by the AGAUR, began this past semester as a pilot programme at the UAB and now launches its second edition. The universities of Girona and Lleida also plan to start their own choral groups soon.
Given the stress and high job demands affecting university staff, this research was initiated based on existing scientific evidence that links the arts to health. The theoretical framework holds that the voice is a key element of identity, and that using it to sing in group strengthens confidence and interpersonal communication. Specifically, collective choral singing reduces stress and depression, and enhances identity and social cohesion in the workplace and in educational settings.
That is why the UAB has created the Community Choir, aimed at the PDI and PTGAS groups, for which no prior musical experience is required. The choir was launched this past semester as a pilot project with about forty people, and today, Wednesday 18 February, it returns for a second edition with 55 people, some of whom are returning for the experience. Of these 55, 46% are PTGAS and 54% are PDI members; the majority are between 47 and 58 years old; and 33% of them have no prior musical experience.
This choral initiative is part of the “Art and Wellbeing at University” project (BENES 00024, AGAUR) which will conclude in March 2027, and which aims to demonstrate through research that collective singing can improve personal and social wellbeing, reduce stress, and strengthen the bonds among members of the university community.
This second edition will consist of eight rehearsal sessions in February, March, and April and a final concert at the Theatre Hall. Every Wednesday over the next three months, during lunch from 1:45 to 3:00 p.m., participants will leave classrooms and labs and their administrative duties to head to the Faculty of Education, where Magalí Sala, the choir's musical director, will be awaiting them. At each rehearsal, participants will work on their voice and their body, sing collectively, and experience a meeting space that fosters disconnection, creativity, and establishing relationships with others.
“We are still processing the data, but we have been able to detect, after the experience of the first semester, that there has been an evolution in the group, an improvement in relational and emotional aspects, and in a sense of belonging”, note Laia Viladot and Laia Serra, two researchers from the Faculty of Education at the UAB and coordinators of the project, who are both very pleased with how the initiative is working. Lecturers and researchers from the Department of Basic, Developmental, and Educational Psychology also participate in the project.
Before and after each rehearsal, quantitative data is collected through questionnaires to measure changes in indicators of emotional wellbeing, social cohesion, and sense of belonging. The research also includes a qualitative component, with in-depth interviews and focus groups with some of the participants to explore their perceptions and experiences related to the project. Additionally, during rehearsals systematic observation is carried out to identify group dynamics, levels of participation, and social interaction.
The project, which is coordinated by the UAB and which soon will incorporate the universities of Girona and Lleida, also includes the organisation of two community art organisations: Xamfrà from Barcelona, and La Nave Va, a social theater organisation from Girona.
One of the tweleve UAB projects selected
This is one of the twelve UAB projects selected by the AGAUR to research and improve emotional wellbeing at universities, focused on addressing mental health and emotional wellbeing challenges at universities and other agents of the research and innovation system. The projects selected cover disciplines such as clinical and health psychology, veterinary medicine, physics, nursing, social psychology and anthropology, and deal with different objects of study. The goal is to obtain data and propose solutions to improve the emotional wellbeing of all members of the university community; solutions that can be applied in other contexts and are sustainable over time.
Summary of the 1st EDITION OF THE COMMUNITY CHOIR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYfFENFqlSI