Background: Many studies in arts and health have focused on evaluating the impact of participatory arts activities, but few have considered the processes and components shaping the wellbeing outcomes of participants. This paper uses a relational approach to health to explore the processes and components at play during art making that helps foster the wellbeing of participants. Methods: The study uses an action-research case study of a 12-week visual art programme in a nursing home with 10 participants. Data collected were analysed and interpreted using grounded theory to obtain general themes and to facilitate focused analysis. Results:The study identifies the participants, wellbeing outcomes, the environment and the quality of activities as key concerns of arts-health practice.In addition, it reflects on the link between caring and arts-health practice to highlight several caring attributes that promote a caring arts-health practice. Conclusions:The study findings provide a practice framework that can guide decision making and action to foster a caring arts-health practice.

No abstract

Incidence of dementia in Singapore is increasing and strategies to care for people with dementia are necessary. Let's Have Tea at the Museum is a pilot participatory visual art programme designed for clients at an Alzheimer's Disease Association (ADA) Singapore day care centre. The programme, which combines reminiscence with artmaking, aims at enabling participants to further explore the heritage collection at the Peranakan Museum to reawaken memories and promote personal expression. This study involved eight participants (seven females and one male) all aged 70 years and above, with mild or moderate stage Alzheimer's disease. Video recordings and journal entries were collected to study the effects of the programme on the participants. Data were analysed and interpreted using a grounded theory approach to identify general themes and facilitate focused analyses. The three themes identified in this study that support the benefits of the programme include: (1) fostering space for self-discovery, growth, and socialising; (2) art as a resource for multi-sensorial engagement and stimulation; and (3) encouraging play and boosting morale. Further use and development of the programme is recommended as a strategy to care for and enrich the lives of people with Alzheimer's disease.

Loneliness has become a global major public health concern, with detrimental effects to the young and old. ARTISAN (Aspiration and Resilience Through Intergenerational Storytelling and Art-based Narratives) is a 5-week, 15-h participatory art and group-based intervention that focuses on resilience building and loneliness alleviation among the young and old through a structured multimodal framework held at a museum space. Developed with a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach, this intervention is evaluated using an open-label waitlist randomized controlled trial design (RCT) comprised of community-dwelling youth and older adults randomized into an intervention group (n = 35) or a waitlist-control group (n = 33). Participants were assessed on standardized self-reported psychometric measures including loneliness, resilience, quality of life, social support, life satisfaction and national identity at three time points. Qualitative data generated during each intervention session as well as acceptability focus groups were recorded and transcribed. Linear mixed modeling analyses revealed that participants in the intervention group experienced improvements in life satisfaction compared to participants in the waitlist-control group (95% CI: 0.22 to 0.77, p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.53) immediately after the completion of ARTISAN. Subgroup analyses for youth participants indicated improvements in quality of life (95% CI: 0.16 to 0.52, p < 0.001, d = 1.31) and national identity (95% CI: 0.18 to 0.80, p = 0.002, d = 0.43) in comparison to the waitlist-control group. At 5-weeks follow-up, the intervention group participants continued to experience high levels of life satisfaction (95% CI: 0.04 to 0.42, p = 0.017, d = 0.47), enhancements in resilience (95% CI: 0.07 to 0.55, p = 0.011, d = 0.46), as well as a significant reduction in loneliness (95% CI: −0.34 to −0.08, p = 0.001, d = 0.61) compared to baseline, reflecting the effectiveness and positive residual effects of the ARTISAN intervention. Similarly, the qualitative findings provided support for the intervention and additional insights to the quantitative findings. This holistic intervention framework that integrates stories, arts and heritage for bridging and empowering lives fills a critical gap in knowledge and practice between the arts, health and citizenship, paving the way for further research in creating a more caring and inclusive society with the arts.Clinical Trials Registration:www.ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT03048708.

In the light of challenges arising from contemporary issues such as inclusivity, sustainability and justice, the connections between art, design and caring appears to be pertinent. What role can artists and designers play in the ecology of care? How can we lead art and design students to connect and lend their creative skills to care needs? Drawing on the ethics of care and a relational view on health this article highlights the various teaching approaches and initiatives introduced at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, to support and guide students to realise various art and design for health and wellbeing projects that provide opportunities for students to part take in ecology of care using their creative skills. Although creative explorations at the intersection of art, design and caring is still at an early stage, outcomes from this ongoing effort have been encouraging in response to the shifting social needs to create a more inclusive and flourishing society in Singapore.