The health of a musician
identifying musicians' unstated/unrecognized health information needs
pp. 115-123
in: Serap Kurbanolu, Joumana Boustany, Esther Grassian, Diane Mizrachi, Loriene Roy (eds), Information literacy in everyday life, Berlin, Springer, 2019Abstract
One local non-profit organization in Austin, Texas, USA is HAAM (Health Alliance for Austin Musicians). HAAM assists musicians, music teachers, and disc jockeys by providing no- or low-cost health coverage along with dental, hearing, and vision care. Additional programs include Hepatitis-C testing and treatment and discounted wellness services (acupuncture, chiropractic, and massage). Without HAAM, 31% of Austin musicians would be without health insurance. In 2016 HAAM collaborated with the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin) Dell Medical School to evaluate HAAM services and measure depression, pain interference, physical function, and social engagement/social isolation. HAAM staff need more details on musicians' barriers to receiving health care. One finding was that the HAAM members did not avail themselves of HAAM basic services. The aim of this paper is to examine the results of this study that identified musicians' stated health information needs and outline the structure of a planned subsequent study on unstated but overt health information needs. The future study will focus also on the place of information literacy, health literacy, and health insurance literacy in assisting musicians in taking wise health actions.