Theses and Dissertations
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- All Subjects: Health
Wellness resources at postsecondary music schools: a survey of how this information is being offered
profession. The National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) requires schools to
provide information about wellness. There are 634 degree-granting, not for profit, NASM
accredited postsecondary music schools in America. This study examined the types of
wellness resources offered at 387 of these schools or 60%. Wellness information was
divided into three categories: physical, psychological and hearing. The types of resources
offered, category of information and the size of the school were considered. Schools were
emailed and their websites were searched for wellness information.
Forty-eight percent of the schools had website information, 32% offered wellness
workshops, 16% of the schools offered wellness courses, and 32% of the schools covered
wellness information through other methods. Nineteen percent of the schools said that
they did not offer courses or workshops and did not say how they are meeting the
requirement. Physical wellness information was most widely available, followed by
hearing information, while psychological wellness information was harder to find.
Smaller schools were less likely to offer wellness courses but otherwise the size of a
school did not play a significant role in the types of wellness resources they were able to
offer.
Based on the findings, more schools should incorporate wellness information on
their websites and hold wellness workshops. Psychological wellness information should
be more widely available. Schools should advertise the wellness information that they
offer so that students are aware of the options available to them.
Significant health inequalities exist between different castes and ethnic communities in India, and identifying the roots of these inequalities is of interest to public health research and policy. Research on caste-based health inequalities in India has historically focused on general, government-defined categories, such as “Scheduled Castes,” “Scheduled Tribes,” and “Other Backward Classes.” This method obscures the diversity of experiences, indicators of well-being, and health outcomes between castes, tribes, and other communities in the “scheduled” category. This study analyzes data on 699,686 women from 4,260 castes, tribes and communities in the 2015-2016 Demographic and Health Survey of India to: (1) examine the diversity within and overlap between general, government-defined community categories in both wealth, infant mortality, and education, and (2) analyze how infant mortality is related to community category membership and socioeconomic status (measured using highest level of education and household wealth). While there are significant differences between general, government-defined community categories (e.g., scheduled caste, backward class) in both wealth and infant mortality, the vast majority of variation between communities occurs within these categories. Moreover, when other socioeconomic factors like wealth and education are taken into account, the difference between general, government-defined categories reduces or disappears. These findings suggest that focusing on measures of education and wealth at the household level, rather than general caste categories, may more accurately target those individuals and households most at risk for poor health outcomes. Further research is needed to explain the mechanisms by which discrimination affects health in these populations, and to identify sources of resilience, which may inform more effective policies.