Broadening the debate on creativity and dementia: A critical approach

Abstract

In recent years there has been a growing interest in person-centred, 'living well' approaches to dementia, often taking the form of important efforts to engage people with dementia in a range of creative, arts-based interventions such as dance, drama, music, art and poetry. Such practices have been advanced as socially inclusive activities that help to affirm personhood and redress the biomedical focus on loss and deficit. However, in emphasizing more traditional forms of creativity associated with the arts, more mundane forms of creativity that emerge in everyday life have been overlooked, specifically with regard to how such creativity is used by people living with dementia and by their carers and family members as a way of negotiating changes in their everyday lives. In this paper, we propose a critical approach to understanding such forms of creativity in this context, comprised of six dimensions: everyday creativity; power relations; ways to operationalise creativity; sensory and affective experience; difference; and reciprocity. We point towards the potential of these dimensions to contribute to a reframing of debates around creativity and dementia.

‘Unlocking the door to being there’: The contribution of creative facilitators in supporting people living with dementia to engage with heritage settings

“…The activities are directly linked to the material spaces and social encounters being experienced by participants, and although not directly stated in the HRP literature, this approach appears congruent with observations made by Bellass et al (2018) who note that viewing the self as a social, relational process may have more to offer in understanding the value of art and creativity to people with dementia than individualised approaches. Session proposals were reviewed from the logistical, conservation, historical accuracy and accessibility perspective and adapted further.…”

“…The sessions designed by the creative facilitators engage participants in movement and sensory experiences; introduce information, historical facts and stories through the medium of objects and the physical environment, and offer opportunities for participants to make meaning for themselves via creative activities in the context of social interaction. Such meaning-making may include moments of negative affect, given that participants are to some extent dealing with adversity, and that creative moments in connecting us more meaningfully to our world, may not always be wholly pleasurable (Bellass et al, 2018). Part of the skill of the creative facilitators is to allow space for this to happen, but to contain this within the session, so that such emotions can be felt and acknowledged but without disrupting the overall experience of the event.…”

A Taxonomy of Arts Interventions for People With Dementia

“…These are comparable to five elements of meaningful arts experiences for people with dementia identified by Basting (2017): expression; connection; purpose; pleasure; creative process and product. In turn, Bellass et al (2018) identify six dimensions for a more inclusive approach to dementia and creativity: everyday life and creativity; power relations; operationalising creativity; affective ambivalence; difference; reciprocity.…”

Facilitating creativity in dementia care: the co-construction of arts-based engagement

“…(2011) recognise the importance of intersubjective and relational aspects of learning through arts-based engagement to support feelings of empowerment. Conversely, recognising embodied expressions of resistance may be equally important to understand how people with dementia influence arts-based engagement, and to acknowledge the potential for arts-based engagement to produce both positive and negative emotions within a relational context that includes attention to relations of power (Bellass et al , in press).…”

“…They argue that creativity is a key way in which people with dementia communicate since it is a visible manifestation of relationality and embodied selfhood through which citizenship may be achieved (Kontos et al ., 2017). Thus, arts-based engagement can support ‘embodied creative agency’ (Bellass et al , in press). Given the importance of skilled facilitation in supporting arts-based engagement for people with dementia, a contextual model of learning can be applied to understand how participants and facilitators interact to co-construct creative arts-based engagement in care settings.…”