Research Insights Webinar: Singing and Lung Health

Mette Kaasgaard, PhD, MSc is a classical singer and Postdoctoral researcher at Pulmonary Research Unit Zealand PLUZ, Zealand University Hospital Roskilde and Naestved, Naestved Hospital, Denmark.

Working with a team of 6 researchers, Mette's Randomised Control Trial asked 'How does a Singing for Lung Health intervention compare with physical exercise training in terms of short-term improvement of 6- Minute Walk Test in COPD patients attending pulmonary rehabilitation?' She presents her findings, and discusses the processes around setting up singing for health research programmes.

Mette Kaasgaard is a postdoc at Department of Regional Health Research at University of Southern Denmark with affiliation with Pulmonary Research Unit Zealand at Zealand University Hospital, Denmark. Currently, she is investigating the impact of singing in people with lung cancer. She defended her ph.d. in June 2022 entitled "Singing in Pulmonary Rehabilitation of Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)" which included both qualitative and mixed-methods research and quantitative research. The latter was based on a large-scale multicentre randomised controlled trial with 11 municipalities and 270 patients, comparing the British "Singing for Lung Health"-approach with usual care physical exercise training within community-based pulmonary rehabilitation. Prior to her ph.d., Mette holds a Master's degree in design and communication, focusing on concept development and project management, The IT University of Copenhagen, and, further, she holds a diploma graduate degree in classical singing and singing pedagogy, The Royal Danish Academy of Music.