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

Abstract

Background: There is a scarcity of research concerning what it is about arts engagement that may activate causal mechanisms leading to effects on health and wellbeing outcomes: their active ingredients. Further, the limited studies that do exist have tended to be relevant to specific contexts and types of art forms. The aim of this study was to carry out a comprehensive mapping of potential active ingredients, construct a shared language, and propose a framework and toolkit to support the design, implementation, and evaluation of arts in health activities.Methods: Drawing upon Rapid Appraisal techniques and collaborating with 64 participants, we engaged in a three-phase process: 1) a scoping review to inform the development of an initial framework; 2) a consultation on the initial framework; and 3) analysis of consultation responses and construction of the INNATE framework. Results: The study identified 139 potential active ingredients within the overarching categories of project, people, and contexts. Project components relate directly to the content of the arts activity itself, intrinsic to what the activity is. The people category denotes how people interact through engagement with the activity and who is involved in this interaction, including activity facilitation. Contexts relates to the activity setting comprising the aggregate of place(s), things, and surroundings. Aligning with complexity science, ingredients may overlap, interconnect, or feed into one another to prompt mechanisms, and may not be experienced as distinct by participants. Conclusions: Our mapping exercise is the most extensive to date. In relation to arts in health activities, the INNATE framework can support with: design and implementation, such as in co-producing an intervention to meet the needs of a particular population; evaluation, such as facilitating the comparison of different interventions and their efficacy; and replication, scalability, and sustainability through enabling detailed reporting and specific articulation of what an arts in health activity entails. The toolkit can also be used as a reflexive tool to support those delivering arts in health activities.

How pharmacy teams can provide health education

“…(Female, aged [35][36][37][38][39] Our quantitative work also revealed that some of the psychological symptoms of long Covid may have roots in biological pathways. Symptoms of depression and anxiety emerge almost immediately after infection in both 'short' and long Covid sufferers, but interestingly, we found that those who developed long Covid had much higher initial increases in depressive symptoms than those with short Covid (83).…”

“…Meanwhile, we found no association in longitudinal patterns of engagement with those living in remote areas who had traditionally been more engaged, suggesting that for a period of time, home confinement enabled or encouraged more engagement for certain groups (80). For example, in our qualitative interviews, we found that these enablers included having more free time, a change to normal routines, and the availability of arts resources online (81). However, at the same time, these could also be barriers for those who found digital arts formats inaccessible or who preferred to engage in person (81).…”

“…For example, in our qualitative interviews, we found that these enablers included having more free time, a change to normal routines, and the availability of arts resources online (81). However, at the same time, these could also be barriers for those who found digital arts formats inaccessible or who preferred to engage in person (81).…”

“…During the first lockdown, 22% of respondents in the study increased how much they engaged in arts activities, citing them as ways to cope with the pandemic through emotion regulation and approach or avoidance tactics (34). More specifically, people used the arts to distract themselves from the pandemic, connect with themselves emotionally and on a deeper level, engage creatively and learn new skills, and connect with others (35). This supports previous work on the use of arts and creativity to support emotion regulation (36).…”

When the painting meets its musical inspiration: The impact of multimodal art experience on aesthetic enjoyment and subjective well-being in the museum.

“…In our current work, we investigate if this presumably better experience can also impact the well-being effects of art experience. Given that previous work has shown that better aesthetic experiences also lead to enhanced well-being effects of such art experiences (Mastandrea, 2019;Trupp et al, 2023;Warran et al, 2022), we assume that multimodal aesthetic experiences should lead to more well-being gain. Thus, our goal and central research question were to investigate how an ecologically paired multimodal art experience can improve aesthetic experience and therefore well-being benefits compared to a single modality art experience.…”