Performing arts as a social technology for community health promotion in northern Ghana

Frishkopf, Michael; Hamze, Hasan; Alhassan, Mubarak; Zukpeni, Ibrahim Abukari; Sulemana, Anas; Zakus, David

doi:10.15212/fmch.2016.0105

Cited by 18 publications

(16 citation statements)

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“…46 81 83 Two addressed HIV/AIDS 46 81 and one focused on cholera and malaria. 83 Given the lack of distinction between music, song and dance in many African traditions, 107 it is likely that the apparently small number of dance-related studies identified in this review masks the extent to which dance was present in music and song-based studies.…”

Section: Music and Song Dancementioning

confidence: 96%

Arts-based approaches to promoting health in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review

Bunn

Kalinga

Mtema³

et al. 2020

BMJ Glob Health

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IntroductionArts-based approaches to health promotion have been used widely across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), particularly in public health responses to HIV/AIDS. Such approaches draw on deep-rooted historical traditions of indigenous groups in combination with imported traditions which emerged from colonial engagement. To date, no review has sought to map the locations, health issues, art forms and methods documented by researchers using arts-based approaches in SSA.MethodsUsing scoping review methodology, 11 databases spanning biomedicine, arts and humanities and social sciences were searched. Researchers screened search results for papers using predefined criteria. Papers included in the review were read and summarised using a standardised proforma. Descriptive statistics were produced to characterise the location of the studies, art forms used or discussed, and the health issues addressed, and to determine how best to summarise the literature identified.ResultsSearches identified a total of 59 794 records, which reduced to 119 after screening. We identified literature representing 30 (62.5%) of the 48 countries in the SSA region. The papers covered 16 health issues. The majority (84.9%) focused on HIV/AIDS-related work, with Ebola (5.0%) and malaria (3.3%) also receiving attention. Most studies used a single art form (79.0%), but a significant number deployed multiple forms (21.0%). Theatre-based approaches were most common (43.7%), followed by music and song (22.6%), visual arts (other) (9.2%), storytelling (7.6%) and film (5.0%).ConclusionsArts-based approaches have been widely deployed in health promotion in SSA, particularly in response to HIV/AIDS. Historically and as evidenced by this review, arts-based approaches have provided a platform to facilitate enquiry, achieved significant reach and in some instances supported demonstrable health-related change. Challenges relating to content, power relations and evaluation have been reported. Future research should focus on broadening application to other conditions, such as non-communicable diseases, and on addressing challenges raised in research to date.

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Section: Music and Song Dancementioning

confidence: 96%

Arts-based approaches to promoting health in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review

Bunn

Kalinga

Mtema³

et al. 2020

BMJ Glob Health

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“…Given the appropriate level of involvement and willingness of teachers to engage in the project, there is potential for the arts-based malaria education model to be sustained long-term, in contrast to the dance drama program, which required significant outside support from dance troupes and other community resources. 22 Additionally, unlike other similar studies deployed in malaria-endemic areas, this study emphasized studentdriven creation and facilitation of all activities to enhance understanding of recommended behaviors for malaria prevention. 23,24 These findings expand on the study by Okabayashi et al that highlights changing teachers" and school children"s behaviors toward malaria prevention with inventive teaching methods, although the study did not examine the wider impacts of a program on local community members.…”

Section: Application Of Relevant Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

The art of malaria education: an arts-based malaria education model, Pepease-Kwahu, Ghana

Ntim¹,

Johnson²

2019

Int J Community Med Public Health

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Background: Malaria is a major health concern in Ghana as well as other countries in West Africa, where it is estimated that more than 300 million people are at risk of malaria infection. While prior research has highlighted promising school-based interventions often facilitated through textbook information or teacher-based lectures to promote awareness about the disease, less is known as to how well such interventions are able to actively involve and engage students in learning about malaria in their schools.Methods: This research examines the role of the performing arts as a heuristic for student-centered teaching and learning about malaria. Using a convergent parallel mixed-methods study design, an arts-based malaria education model was deployed in a junior high school in Pepease-Kwahu, Ghana.Results: The proposed product included a peer-peer education model through which students (n=77) demonstrated their learning of malaria through their own creation and participation in poetry, song, dance, and drama performances. Pre- and post- paper-based surveys, coupled with focus groups with student participants (n=10) were used to examine the impact of this program.Conclusions: Research findings currently show that the arts-based malaria education program can be beneficial to students, by requiring them to use the performing arts to engage with information about malaria transmission, prevention, and treatment. Students correctly identified that the malarial parasite is transmitted by a mosquito bite, and they correctly identified symptoms of malaria, although students were reluctant to say that they will regularly use insecticide-treated bed nets as a preventive measure for malaria.

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“…In the first phase, described in greater detail elsewhere (Frishkopf, Hamze, Alhassan, Zukpeni, Abu, & Zakus, 2016), our central concern was to design dance dramas to combat malaria and cholera, by manipulating the art form's aesthetic elements to gather a community audience and transfer key health messaging, redundantly through multiple registers (cognitive, emotional, and social), relevant to knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors that might help reduce the incidence of these endemic diseases.…”

Section: Phase I Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traditional Music as a Sustainable Social Technology for Community Health Promotion in Africa: “Singing and Dancing for Health” in Rura Northern Ghana

Frishkopf

Zakus

Hamze³

et al. 2017

Legon J. Hum.

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Music is a social technology of enormous potential for improving community health. This paper reports on a series of applied ethnomusicological interventions, enacted as a participatory action research project in northern Ghana, for health promotion. Initial interventions, performed by local professional urban artists, proved effective. But as they were not sustainable, we followed up by training village-based amateur youth groups, rooted in the local community, to perform a similar repertoire. These methods can be transposed to other societies maintaining participatory musical traditions, leading to improved community health whenever

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Performing arts as a social technology for community health promotion in northern Ghana

Cited by 18 publications

References 0 publications

Arts-based approaches to promoting health in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review

Arts-based approaches to promoting health in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review

The art of malaria education: an arts-based malaria education model, Pepease-Kwahu, Ghana

Traditional Music as a Sustainable Social Technology for Community Health Promotion in Africa: “Singing and Dancing for Health” in Rura Northern Ghana

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