Abstract. The goal of this study was to determine whether experts attribute a series of images created by people with dementia who were participating in a program of contemporary art education to artists or to people without prior artistic experience. In this way, we sought to obtain an indicator of the artistic quality of the images produced by people with dementia. Participants were 122 specialists in art to whom were presented 30 images, 15 works by professional artists and 15 created by people with dementia. For each of the 15 images created by the people with dementia, we calculated the proportion of experts who attributed the image to a professional artist. The results indicated that, in a significant number of cases, which varied according to the images, the experts attributed the images to professional artists. The judgment of the experts reinforcing the idea of the creative potential of people with dementia. Keywords: Art; dementia; artists; creativity.[es] Creatividad artística y demencia. Un estudio de evaluación por expertos Resumen. El objetivo de este estudio fue determinar si expertos atribuían a artistas o a personas sin experiencia artística previa una serie de imágenes creadas por personas con demencia que participaban en un programa de educación artística contemporánea. De esta manera, buscamos obtener un indicador de la calidad artística de las imágenes producidas por personas con demencia. Participaron en el trabajo 122 especialistas en arte a los que se presentaron 30 imágenes, 15 obras de artistas profesionales y 15 creadas por personas con demencia. Para cada una de las 15 imágenes creadas por las personas con demencia, calculamos la proporción de expertos que atribuyeron la imagen a un artista profesional. Los resultados indicaron que, en un número significativo de casos, que variaron según las imágenes, los expertos atribuyeron las imágenes a artistas profesionales. El juicio de los expertos refuerza la idea del potencial creativo de las personas con demencia.

Objective: This study aimed to understand the psychological and social aspects of how art-viewing, in a public art gallery, could be used as an activity to support family carers of people with mental health problems. Methods: Using grounded theory methodology, interviews from eight carer-participants and two facilitator-participants were analysed, along with podcasts created from audio-recordings of the gallery sessions. Results: Art-viewing was conceptualised as an experience that engaged carers on emotional, aesthetic and educational levels. Psychological processes such as mentalising, reflexivity and externalising were identified in the responses stimulated by art-viewing. Conclusions: The findings suggest that art-viewing in a group within a gallery setting has the potential to be used more widely as a community-based, low-cost and nonclinical activity to provide social and psychological support for carers of people with mental-health problems.

Abstract"Mental health professionals" are increasingly speaking out about their own experiences of using mental health services. However, research suggests that they face identity-related dilemmas because social conventions tend to assume two distinct identities: "professionals" as relatively socially powerful and "patients" as comparatively powerless. The aim of this study was, through discourse analysis, to explore how "mental health professionals" with "mental health service user" experience "construct" their identity. Discourse analysis views identity as fluid and continually renegotiated in social contexts. Ten participants were interviewed, and the interviews were transcribed and analyzed. Participants constructed their identity variously, including as separate "professional" and "patient" identities, switching between these in relation to different contexts, suggesting "unintegrated" identities. Participants also demonstrated personally valued "integrated" identities in relation to some professional contexts. Implications for clinical practice and future research are explored. Positive identity discourses that integrate experiences as a service user and a professional included "personhood" and insider "activist," drawing in turn on discourses of "personal recovery," "lived experience," and "use of self." These integrated identities can potentially be foregrounded to contribute to realizing the social value of service user and other lived experience in mental health workers, and highlighting positive and hopeful perspectives on mental distress.

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