Artistic creativity and dementia. A study of assessment by experts

Abstract

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.

Visual Arts in Children’s Hospitals: Scoping Review

“…In the third group are the works that propose models of analysis of hospitalization environments. In this block, we could consider the following: “Artwork and splash of colour transform wards,” 2015, Attiah (2013), Belver and Ullán (2010), Councill (2003), Isaacs (2012), McLaughlan and Pert (2018), Morgan (2018), Samarasekera (2017), and “Talking point: Decor designed to calm younger patients,” 2015). In this block, the authors usually propose outlines to analyze the environment of the hospital, integrating the artistic aspects into this analysis, or developing proposals based on experiences.…”

“…Some authors (van den Berg & Foundation 200 years University Hospital Groningen, 2006) stress the need for a more exhaustive review of the benefits of physical settings on healthcare, which should be based on a consensus about the taxonomy of the relevant physical dimensions. Among these dimensions, it has been proposed (Belver & Ullán, 2010) to include the symbolic dimension of space and its impact on the psychosocial well-being of pediatric patients and their families. A new perspective would thereby be taken into account when making decisions about the design of health settings.…”

“…L. Nielsen et al, 2017), and we can consider them as a particularly relevant symbolic environmental mediator in the humanization of hospital spaces. The symbolic environmental mediators are stimulating signals of communicative and informative value, which, through the children’s own experience or through vicarious experience, end up being associated with emotional experiences (Belver & Ullán, 2010). These stimulating signals associated with emotional experiences explain the emotional meaning of the environment, that is, its ability to provoke emotional experiences of various kinds in people.…”

“…Observation of children’s reactions to symbolic elements of the hospital environment, both negative reactions of fear or rejection and positive ones, has led to new approaches in this regard. The setting of pediatric hospitals is not considered a superficial aspect of their design but a dimension (Belver & Ullán, 2010) that can positively affect the psychological state of the patients, distracting them, encouraging them, and improving their mood.…”