Towards a caring practice: reflections on the processes and components of arts-health practice

Abstract

Background: Many studies in arts and health have focused on evaluating the impact of participatory arts activities, but few have considered the processes and components shaping the wellbeing outcomes of participants. This paper uses a relational approach to health to explore the processes and components at play during art making that helps foster the wellbeing of participants. Methods: The study uses an action-research case study of a 12-week visual art programme in a nursing home with 10 participants. Data collected were analysed and interpreted using grounded theory to obtain general themes and to facilitate focused analysis. Results:The study identifies the participants, wellbeing outcomes, the environment and the quality of activities as key concerns of arts-health practice.In addition, it reflects on the link between caring and arts-health practice to highlight several caring attributes that promote a caring arts-health practice. Conclusions:The study findings provide a practice framework that can guide decision making and action to foster a caring arts-health practice.

Challenges and enablers for creative arts practice in care homes

“…As encountered during the Making of Me project, artists may need to understand how to transform or adapt spaces, or change their practice in response to the space available, all of which can involve negotiation with the care setting management and staff (Begault et al 2017). While the quality of the environment may help to shape participants' experiences and their perceptions around the quality of their experience (Tan 2018), it has been argued that an art programme may successfully engender an atmosphere wherein participants can flourish, regardless of the physical realities of the environment (Garabedian and Kelly 2018). A space offering a sense of 'safety and freedom' was suggested to be essential to fostering creative exploration for residents in a care home who were living with dementia and taking part in a poetry group (Swinnen 2014).…”

Affect, Belief, and the Arts

“…For Hegel and the German romantics, like Schopenhauer on music and Nietzsche on tragedy and Wagner, art can be a form of 14 On 'line of flight, ' see Deleuze andGuattari (1987/2013). See also Tan (2018). collective self-knowledge in which humans externalize and selfrealize their conceptions (Pippin, 2020).…”

What are the active ingredients of ‘arts in health’ activities? Development of the INgredients iN ArTs in hEalth (INNATE) Framework

“…change (i.e., a health impact) that emerges is produced within a complex situation of engagement and meaning making (16). Similarly, Tan (17) drawing on Deleuze & Guattari's concept of 'assemblage' has posited that experiences are afforded and affected by assemblages viewed as 'encounters with a collection of animate and inanimate things', theorising that there may be a 'network of elements' that prompt a range of experiences and opportunities for activity participants (p.81). On this view, health and wellbeing outcomes are afforded by these elements and their relations (25,36).…”

“…Whilst this can help appreciate the nuance and specifics of each art form, it also means that the language used between art forms can vary, resulting in difficulties comparing findings from different studies and articulating if and how specific arts projects align or differ from one another. Recently, there have been attempts to draw some of the most common ingredients together (2,32), and to group them into higher order themes such as 'participants', 'environment', and 'quality of art activity' that could apply across arts interventions more broadly (17). However, we still lack a comprehensive framework mapping what all of the potential active ingredients of arts in health programmes may be.…”