Effectiveness of an e-learning curriculum on occupational health for music performers

The purpose of this study was (1) to evaluate the effectiveness of the e-learning curriculum and (2) to explore the type of questions raised by students through the "Health Promotion for Music Performers" (HPMP) e-learning curriculum.

This study was primarily a pedagogical research composed of a pre- and postintervention design coupled with a 1-month longitudinal knowledge retention measurement. The intervention, the HPMP e-learning curriculum, was implemented over 14 weeks, once a week, for a total of 14 classes. Each class consisted of a 60-min prerecorded lecture followed by a 40-min real-time interactive discussion. The interdisciplinary faculty panel consisted of experts from the field of music and medicine. The Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) was used to evaluate knowledge changes concerning (1) Practice and Performance issues and (2) Health and Life Style issues.

Fifteen graduate-level music students participated in the study. The SAQ scores on the 1-month follow-up test for Practice and Performance issues were significantly higher than the pretest (t=2.731, p<0.05). On the other hand, no significant differences were found between the posttest and pretest or between the follow-up test and posttest. Regarding Health and Life Style issues, comparison at all three measurement points did not reveal any significant difference. Questions raised by students fell into four major categories: performance injury (45%), performance anxiety (22%), general physiology (22%), and general psychology (11%).

The findings suggest that the HPMP e-learning course enhanced student awareness of Practice and Performance issues but did not have as significant an impact on student awareness of Health and Lifestyle issues.