Arts & Health最新文献

Background: Research has acknowledged the potential benefits of art programs in palliative care settings while also highlighting associated concerns due to the extreme vulnerability of clients. To add to existing research, which predominantly focuses on social and healthcare outcomes of art initiatives, this study examines how artists shape their practice in response to the unique challenges of palliative care and client vulnerability.

Method: We conducted ethnographic research, observing and conducting in-depth interviews with nine artists working in a Belgian supportive and palliative daycare centre.

Results: The findings reveal that the artists prioritise providing meaningful artistic experiences and employ a responsive, improvisational approach, emphasising the principle of negotiation.

Conclusions: Working as an artist in palliative care presents both emotional and artistic challenges. Expectations regarding what art can mean in this context must be held in check, all while keeping the repercussions of interventions on clients firmly in focus.

Background: This review evaluated the existing literature exploring the effects of arts-inclusive programs (AIPs) on the mental health and wellbeing of young children. AIPs include activities, programs, or interventions containing creative arts.

Methods: Literature searches were conducted across three databases (SCOPUS, psycINFO, and ERIC). The search was restricted to studies reporting outcomes of children 0-6 years.

Results: Nine studies were included in the review (3,671 participants). Three key themes were identified: music-related (n = 4); artmaking (n = 3); and storytelling/drama (n = 2). All included studies reported positive outcomes on children's wellbeing following engagement in AIPs.

Discussion: This review found emerging evidence demonstrating positive impacts of arts engagement on the wellbeing of children aged 0-6. However, most studies were low quality and used varying outcome measures. The review is one of the first to highlight the lack of high-quality studies on the relationship between AIPs and wellbeing in young children.

Background: For persons with dementia, receptive music may reduce negative expressions and increase positive ones. Caregiver singing (CS) is an intervention aimed at facilitating care situations and involves caregivers singing for or together with persons with dementia during care activities. In the literature, CS is commonly addressed as a music activity rather than a care intervention. The aim was to describe caregivers' experiences of the reactions of persons with dementia when using CS and receptive music in dementia care.

Method: The data comprised three focus group interviews with 12 professional caregivers in dementia care, analysed using qualitative content analysis.

Results: the analysis resulted in two themes: "CS increases interaction and builds companionship" and "Receptive music soothes, awakens memories and reflects the person's self".

Conclusion: Both CS and receptive music was shown to have positive influences, and while the results were sometimes intertwined, CS was shown to better facilitate problematic care situations.

Background: Older adults living in subsidized housing may be at increased risk of social isolation. Applied theater, a participatory art program, can facilitate social connections among older adults.

Methods: A professionally-facilitated 12-week acting and improvisation course was held in two federally subsidized buildings in an urban setting. The mixed-method design included thematic analysis of interviews, participant observation, field notes, and statistical analysis of change over time in social isolation, community belonging, and social exclusion.

Results: Participants were motivated to meet other building residents, and the course included aspects that encouraged social bonding.

Conclusions: Although recruitment of socially-isolated older adults presented challenges, this study presents lessons on what motivates residents of low-income senior housing to enroll in an acting program and how to design a theater course in this setting that promotes group bonding.

As the popularity of dance as a health-enhancing activity for adults over the age of 65 has grown, experimental research that aims to identify the physical, psychological, and social impacts of dancing is now prevalent in academic journals. Consistently, the participant's voice is left out of this research.

Photo-elicitation interviews were used within an arts-informed methodology. Ten female dancers aged 66-77 years who attend the same weekly, creative dance class participated.

Thematic analysis of interview transcripts revealed an overarching theme of psychosocial resilience and five sub-themes: connecting with others, challenging perceptions of aging, emotional vulnerability, the importance of creativity, and opportunity to exercise autonomy.

The results offer novel insight into the impact of creative dancing on subjective wellbeing   and suggest that creative dancing can foster psychosocial resilience. The relationship between creative dance and psychosocial resilience should be explored further in other creative dance groups and older male dancers.

Background: Music is increasingly used with youths in health and psychosocial interventions. We conducted a scoping review with the aim to provide an overview of the current available evidence on music intervention for youth in mental health settings, to inform practice and further research.

Methods: Three databases (PsycINFO, PubMed and CINAHL) were surveyed. Using the PRISMA review method, 23 studies met inclusion criteria.

Results: Young people aged from 4 to 25 years old with various mental health conditions participated in music interventions. Music therapy was the most investigated (71%). Improving social skills was the most frequent therapeutic aim addressed. Music interventions are mostly appreciated by the participants, but it is difficult to make conclusions about their effectiveness because of the heterogeneity of research designs and the limited current state of research.

Conclusion: Music interventions appear to represent a promising complementary approach to usual psychiatric care, but further standardised research is necessary to continue investigating their therapeutic effects.

Objectives: This mixed-methods systematic review determined the impact of dance interventions on symptoms of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) among persons living in residential care.

Methods: Seven databases (Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Ageline, and AMED) were searched. Studies published before June 2022 that investigated the impact of dance interventions on symptoms of ADRD were eligible for inclusion. Risk of bias was assessed using CASP, ROBINS-I, and ROB-2. Quantitative and qualitative objectives provided a convergent segregate narrative synthesis for the review. The review protocol was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42021220535).

Results: Two quantitative and two qualitative studies met the inclusion criteria. Dance interventions decreased levels of agitation and aggression, and improved behavioural and psychological symptoms.

Conclusions: Studies suggest that dance interventions reduce the symptoms of dementia through increased expression, emotions, and improved relationships for persons with ADRD. However, the small number of included studies limits these conclusions.

Background: Details findings from a project on the potential for arts activities and art therapy to support the mental health and wellbeing of children living in Kashmir.

Methods: The intervention engaged 30 school children over the course of one year who produced various forms of artwork and performances. In this paper, we report on project impacts, drawing on some of our qualitative measures including observations and interviews.

Results: Our research details impacts and improvements in areas of emotional expression, belonging, and agency. We also found an important role for schools to create safe, secure, and caring spaces to allow students to express themselves and work through traumatic feelings in a non-judgemental way.

Conclusions: School-based arts interventions can play an important role in the mental health and wellbeing of children. Critical here, however, are dedicated space, time, and resources to provide a supportive environment and to sustain activity in long-term.

This research uses the arts-based research method of found poetry, the creation of poem-like prose from existing text, to share the lived experience of the 2009 Black Saturday bushfire disaster in Australia which killed 173 people. After outlining the processes, this paper applies found poetry to an existing text: Peg Fraser's book, Black Saturday. Five found poems are shared, each conveying a different element of the disaster experience: "Armageddon," "Go - GET OUT," "Bushfire Chook," "Resisting the Poetry Tree," and "Lucky". Compared to normal prose, there is an authentic and vulnerable vibrancy to the language of these found poems, which offer unexpected visceral insight into the bushfire experience - the fear, the heat, the confusion, the anger, and the loss. Poetry, which resonates and draws people in emotionally, has significant potential as arts-based knowledge translation in disaster risk and climate change communication.

Background: This paper considers weaknesses in a study by Cohen et al. (2006) on the impacts of community singing on health. These include high demand characteristics, lack of attention to attrition, flawed statistical analysis, and measurement. Nevertheless, the study is uncritically cited, in evidence reviews, with findings taken at face value.

Methods: Google Scholar, SCOPUS and BASE citation functions for Cohen et al. identified 32 evidence reviews in peer-reviewed journals. Eleven of these reviews, published between 2010 and 2023, focused on creative arts interventions.

Results: We demonstrate limitations in the Cohen et al. research which undermine the conclusions they reach regarding the health benefits of group singing. Subsequent evidence reviews take the findings at face value and offer little critical commentary.

Discussion: We consider what is needed to improve evidence reviews in the field of creative arts and health research.

Conclusions: A more robust approach is needed in reviewing research evidence in the field of arts and health. The Cohen et al. paper is not suitable for inclusion in future evidence reviews.