A few figures:
• Only one in 17 persons immediately consults a specialist in the event of a health problem.
• Only one in five informs the teacher in the event of an injury.
• The offers of the educational institute to cope with stress are rated ‘sufficient’ by only 17%.
• The most commonly used method for coping with stress is “lazing around” (Wanke et alii 2012).
Summary
Not just the future professional activity, but already the training is accompanied by high and very differ-ent psychomdiffer-ental and physical demands (Vitzthum et al 2013, Wanke et al 2011). The same applies to the complex training and work situations where, despite everything, it is all about protecting and keeping the students’ body asset healthy (Wanke et al 2014).
Therefore, it is very important to recognise such com-plex situations and to be able to develop helpful measures in the prevention of education and work- related hazards.
Self-care – preventive measures
Education or studies, respectively, are associated with high physical and psychological loads. The syl-labus/curriculum implies not only the numerous different theoretical and practical subjects, but also further contents such as the simulation of work situa-tions (e.g. simulation of castings/audisitua-tions), educa-tion-related intermediate and final examinations or participation in professional musical theatre, dance or theatre productions already during the training (Wanke et al 2012).
The education usually last between 6 to 8 semesters in the musical theatre category. In professional dance the education lasts much longer, is partly state funded and partly subsidised by the BAföG (Berufsausbildungsförderungsgesetz). It is mainly designed as a full time program and therefore in-cludes a weekly education of about 30 hours per week, depending on the educational institution. At times, the actual number of hours may be significant-ly higher (e.g. preparation for auditions, graduation, performances, examinations, and so on).
These high education-related loads, in combination with the non-education specific private loads, pose great challenges to the generally very young adults.
They learn that their bodies are the assets of their careers and may even learn during education that minor physical deficits can lead to limitations and pose a danger to vocational education and subse-quent employment as a consequence of acute inju-ries or chronic damages caused by misuse or over-use.
This phase of vocational education is the last curricu-lar opportunity to impart important aspects of pre-vention and self-care before the professional activity.
This knowledge should serve to support this occupa-tional group, to behave properly in case of hazards and injuries and thus to stay healthy for as long as possible.
The teachers involved in the training have a great responsibility, since they are not only supposed to impart subject-specific contents, but also have the function of multipliers and thus pass on both good and sometimes less good behaviour. At best, they provide the foundation for a healthy working life (Wanke & Groneberg 2015).
For musical theatre and dance students, a whole bundle of measures can be defined that serve to maintain health (primary prevention) and improve health and performance (secondary prevention) as well as restore employability after injuries/illnesses/
damages (tertiary prevention).
The hazards which justify these measures can be divided into exogenous (external, workplace-related and only indirectly influenceable), as well as endoge-nous (personal and activity-related and directly influ-enceable factors).
Behavioural prevention – environmental prevention They can be divided accordingly into environmental prevention (concerning the work environment/the workplace, the teacher/the institution/the employer) and behavioural prevention (concerning one’s own behaviour in relation to activity). While measures of environmental prevention affect the environment and can therefore hardly be influenced by the students (e.g. costumes, rehearsal planning), behavioural prevention deals with their own attitude and behav-iour.
In both environmental and behavioural prevention, the first step is to identify hazards and develop a resulting response in the form of adapting to the circumstances (e.g. floorings/folds) or, at best, avoiding or reducing hazards (e.g. optimal drinking behaviour).
Complex situations are common
Already during the education it is important to stay in control within complex situations, e.g. singing and dancing along with a group, with props, heel shoes and long skirts and not to injure oneself. To this end, it is important to identify and act on en-dangering situations as a whole, i.e. to be able to develop measures that are helpful in the preven-tion of educapreven-tion and work-related hazards. The syllabus is intended to make a contribution to this.
References
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Wanke, E; Mache, S: Eating behavior and nutrition know-ledge among musical theatre students. Med Probl Perform Art 2013 Mar; 28(1): 19–23.
Wanke, EM; Kunath, EK; Koch, F; Davenport, J; Weisser, B;
Groneberg, DA; Mache, S; Endres, E; Vitzthum, K: Survey of health problems in musical theater students: a pilot study.
Med Probl Perform Art 2012 December; 27(4): 205–11.
Wanke, EM; Groneberg, DA; Quarcoo, D: Analyse und Eva-luation von akuten Verletzungen bei Musical-Darstellern und -innen. Sportverletz Sportschaden 2011 Sep; 25(3):
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Wanke, EM; Groneberg, DA: Tanzpädagoge. In Letzel, S;
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