The effectiveness of arts-based health and wellbeing interventions within local communities: What do we know and what should we be finding out?
Authors: Crossen-White, H. and Hemingway, A.
Journal: Health and Social Care in the Community
Publisher: Wiley: 12 months
ISSN: 1365-2524
Abstract:For over thirty years health and wellbeing interventions have included arts-based activities; first within clinical settings then later within communities (Putland 2008). Of specific interest were arts-based projects developed through partnership working involving health and social care professionals as well as organisations and charities interested in using the arts to promote a community’s health and wellbeing. This review focused upon two key questions: 1. What can we learn from existing published research about the impact upon a community of an arts-based health intervention? 2. What are the key elements that enable effective outcomes for an arts-based health intervention? A narrative review (Murphy 2012) was undertaken following a literature search of six electronic databases focusing upon the period from 2000 to 2014. Findings showed a recent increase in research into arts-based health and wellbeing initiatives including a slight increase in the use of Randomised Controlled Trial’s (RCT`s) (Leckey 2011 and Slayton et al. 2010) and a small number of literature reviews (n=8) but none related to community-based projects specifically. Published research mainly focused on hospital or clinic-based projects recruited through referral following diagnosis. Also existing research had a number of limitations including reliance upon small scale interventions of short duration, key concepts were ill-defined and useful outcome measures were lacking in many studies. In conclusion, future research must capture quality data which enables a better understanding of the effective development and resulting immediate and future impacts of arts-based interventions upon the health and wellbeing of a community.
Source: Manual