Aims:The role of arts and music in supporting subjective wellbeing (SWB) is increasingly recognised. Robust evidence is needed to support policy and practice. This article reports on the first of four reviews of Culture, Sport and Wellbeing (CSW) commissioned by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded What Works Centre for Wellbeing (https://whatworkswellbeing.org/).Objective:To identify SWB outcomes for music and singing in adults.Methods:Comprehensive literature searches were conducted in PsychInfo, Medline, ERIC, Arts and Humanities, Social Science and Science Citation Indexes, Scopus, PILOTS and CINAHL databases. From 5,397 records identified, 61 relevant records were assessed using GRADE and CERQual schema.Results:A wide range of wellbeing measures was used, with no consistency in how SWB was measured across the studies. A wide range of activities was reported, most commonly music listening and regular group singing. Music has been associated with reduced anxiety in young adults, enhanced mood and purpose in adults and mental wellbeing, quality of life, self-awareness and coping in people with diagnosed health conditions. Music and singing have been shown to be effective in enhancing morale and reducing risk of depression in older people. Few studies address SWB in people with dementia. While there are a few studies of music with marginalised communities, participants in community choirs tend to be female, white and relatively well educated. Research challenges include recruiting participants with baseline wellbeing scores that are low enough to record any significant or noteworthy change following a music or singing intervention.Conclusions:There is reliable evidence for positive effects of music and singing on wellbeing in adults. There remains a need for research with sub-groups who are at greater risk of lower levels of wellbeing, and on the processes by which wellbeing outcomes are, or are not, achieved.

This article reports a systematic review of literature published between 1994 and 2004 on the effects of performing arts for health in young people aged 11-18. The review includes research on music, performance, drama and dance in community settings and non-curricular mainstream education. A total of 17 electronic databases were searched and 3670 papers identified, 104 of which met relevance criteria. Full text scrutiny of 85 papers was undertaken and 14 of these were identified for review. The research was heterogeneous, making overall synthesis of results inappropriate. The review demonstrates that research on the impact of the performing arts on young people is at a relatively early stage.

Aims: There has been a burgeoning interest in arts and the environment in healthcare. While research has been undertaken on the clinical impact of disciplines, relatively little research has studied the impact of broader arts for health interventions. This paper reports findings from a systematic review of the arts for health literature, encompassing research on the impact of visual art, design and the environment on the well-being of patients and staff in mental healthcare settings. Methods: A systematic review of over 600 papers published between 1985 and 2005 on the impact of arts, design and environments in mental healthcare was undertaken. The review includes a discussion of contextual and policy literature, as well as 19 reports of quantitative and qualitative studies that met our inclusion criteria. Results: The largest number of studies focused on the aspects of art, design and environment that were relevant to mental healthcare. These studies suggest that this can affect health, including physiological, psychological, clinical and behavioural effects. Exposure to stressful visual and aural environments may reduce levels of stress and enhance recovery. Architectural design consideration is important in mental health settings, especially for patients with conditions such as dementia that can make wayfinding difficult. Exposure to art in healthcare environments has been found to reduce anxiety and depression. Environment features have also been found to affect staff, and improvements in visual and acoustic conditions may reduce risks of errors in some care settings. Qualitative studies provide insights into factors affecting the impact of arts, including issues of power and control, perceptions and influence of key stakeholders, and user participation. A key issue to emerge from this study is that arts interventions do not necessarily address the lack of control exercised by patients in healthcare environments. Conclusions: While there is extensive literature on the impact of design, environment and the arts on health, there is still a need for further research that addresses methodological challenges of evaluating complex interventions. Our review found evidence that environmental enhancements can have a positive impact on health and well-being of staff and patients in mental healthcare. Arts, when considered within this framework of evidence-based design, can also contribute to well-being, offering reassurance and creating identity in healthcare settings. Further research is needed in this area, as well as research that explores the contribution of other models of art that do not fit within the framework of `evidence-based design'. Finally, responses to the arts are contingent on a number of complex social and political factors; further understanding of these is needed in order to inform future research and evaluation of the arts in healthcare.

Coad J, et al. Evidence-based intervention for preschool children with primary speech and language impairments: Child Talkan exploratory mixed-methods study. Programme Grants Appl Res 2015;3(5). Programme Grants for Applied ResearchISSN 2050-4322 (Print) ISSN 2050-4330 (Online) This journal is a member of and subscribes to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (www.publicationethics.org/).Editorial contact: nihredit@southampton.ac.ukThe full PGfAR archive is freely available to view online at www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/pgfar. Print-on-demand copies can be purchased from the report pages of the NIHR Journals Library website: www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk Criteria for inclusion in the Programme Grants for Applied Research journalReports are published in Programme Grants for Applied Research (PGfAR) if (1) they have resulted from work for the PGfAR programme, and (2) they are of a sufficiently high scientific quality as assessed by the reviewers and editors. Programme Grants for Applied Research programmeThe Programme Grants for Applied Research (PGfAR) programme, part of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), was set up in 2006 to produce independent research findings that will have practical application for the benefit of patients and the NHS in the relatively near future. The Programme is managed by the NIHR Central Commissioning Facility (CCF) with strategic input from the Programme Director.The programme is a national response mode funding scheme that aims to provide evidence to improve health outcomes in England through promotion of health, prevention of ill health, and optimal disease management (including safety and quality), with particular emphasis on conditions causing significant disease burden.For more information about the PGfAR programme please visit the website: http://www.nihr.ac.uk/funding/programme-grants-forapplied-research.htm This reportThe research reported in this issue of the journal was funded by PGfAR as project number RP-PG-0109-10073. The contractual start date was in January 2011. The final report began editorial review in April 2014 and was accepted for publication in October 2014. As the funder, the PGfAR programme agreed the research questions and study designs in advance with the investigators. The authors have been wholly responsible for all data collection, analysis and interpretation, and for writing up their work. The PGfAR editors and production house have tried to ensure the accuracy of the authors' report and would like to thank the reviewers for their constructive comments on the final report document. However, they do not accept liability for damages or losses arising from material published in this report.This report presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The views and opinions expressed by authors in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the NHS, the NIHR, CCF, NETSCC, PGfAR or the Department of Health. If there are verbatim quotation...

This paper provides an overview of the current state of the arts and health field in England, through an examination of practice, research and policy developments. Five features of arts and health practice are identified: the scale of the sector, regional variations, mapping of arts and health initiatives, recent conferences and symposia, and the role of key agencies supporting arts and health initiatives. Eight areas of arts and health research activity are considered: retrospective qualitative evaluations, prospective evaluations with some quantitative assessments, experimental research on arts and health initiatives, economic evaluations of arts interventions, systematic reviews of arts and health research, theory development to underpin research efforts, and the establishment of dedicated arts and health research centres and research programmes. The final section considers three 2007 arts and health publications from the Department of Health and Arts Council England. There has been disappointment that the policy recommendations in these documents have not been acted upon. At the time of writing, however, there are some signs of renewed efforts to encourage national leadership from the Department of Health.