Sarah Schmalenberger, PhD, Principal Investigator
University of St. Thomas - St Paul, Minnesota
Jean Giebenhain, PhD, Co-Investigator
University of St. Thomas - St. Paul, Minnesota
Lisa Starr, MSN, CNP, SMDC Principal Investigator
SMDC Health System - Duluth, Minnesota
Charles E. Gessert, MD, MPH, Co-Investigator
SMDC Health System - Duluth, Minnesota
Welcome to the homepage of the Life and Livelihood Study, a national study designed to examine the physical and occupational well-being of women musicians who have had breast cancer. The investigators are interested in discovering the connections between breast cancer and music by asking musician survivors to share their experiences through an online survey and optional telephone interview.
Musicians with breast cancer may be able to identify occupational concerns that can inform an understanding of other physically demanding occupations. In addition, the experience of musicians who are breast cancer survivors may reveal patterns of changes in their artistic or expressive capacity. Data from this study will contribute to research on breast cancer survivorship, as well as to research in music that seeks to understand and support the musician survivor in their work.
This website contains a web-based survey that musicians who have had breast cancer can take online. The survey will ask questions about the diagnosis and treatment for breast cancer, as well as questions about the participant’s musical career.
Following the survey, participants have the option of volunteering to be interviewed on the telephone about their breast cancer experience. For both the web-based survey and interview, anonymity will be guaranteed, and no names will be recorded. Data from this study will contribute to research on breast cancer survivorship, as well as to research in music that seeks to understand and support the musician survivor in their work.
Participants will be encouraged to invite other musicians to take the online survey, especially those who are no longer active musicians.
The idea for this study was initiated by Sarah Schmalenberger, PhD (musicology) who has struggled with these issues as a hornist and survivor of breast cancer. She is the Primary Investigator of the two-year study, which will begin in September 2007. Co-Investigators include Jean Giebenhain, PhD (Psychology), Lisa Starr, MSN, and Charles Gessert, MD, MPH. Schmalenberger anticipates that the findings from this study will provide a solid basis for further examination of the impact of breast cancer not only on musicians, but also on those in other fields where physical fitness, strength, and stamina are vital to occupational and general well-being.
Funding for this study has been provided by grants from the Miller-Dwan Foundation, the Duluth Clinic Foundation, and the University of St. Thomas. For more information, you may contact Dr. Schmalenberger at scschmalenbe@stthomas.edu.