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- Volume 8, Issue 3, 2017
Journal of Applied Arts & Health - Volume 8, Issue 3, 2017
Volume 8, Issue 3, 2017
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Such is art: Reflections on the role of the arts in education and therapy
By Malcolm RossAbstractIn this personal article I reflect on my practice as an arts teacher. In my teaching I focus on the making and appreciation of the arts, meeting, as I see it, the individual student’s hunger for personal meaning. The essence of entering into the formative conversations of art making and art loving is to place those conversations within Winnicott’s ‘potential space’ of play. Citing the testimony of poets and other writers I look at the complementary roles of artist-teacher and artist-therapist in drawing the client and the student into a first-hand experience of personal truth: in the re-making of their subjective worlds Otherwise.
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Exploring the impact on the health and well-being of young adults’ participation in ‘The Club’
More LessAbstractThis study explores the impact of creative arts on the health and well-being of six selected young adults who participated in productions at a performance and entertainment venture (‘The Club’). The qualitative design incorporates in-depth interviews with performers and producers to uncover their stories and experiences, from which key themes are drawn. The study uncovers a number of physical, mental and psychosocial benefits, including empowerment, the learning of new skills, creating and maintaining positive relationships, enhanced confidence and resilience, opportunities for self-expression, and engagement in meaningful activities. Challenges to well-being are also elicited regarding the sometimes negative impact of creative roles on health and well-being. The findings align with evidence from previous studies about the benefits of creative arts in terms of health and well-being promotion. Suggestions for community-based interventions incorporating creative arts are made, including the need for further research in this area.
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Using a second-language drama competition to foster medical humanities education
Authors: John Davy and Jingjing LiuAbstractDrama has had a long-standing role in medical education. This article describes a voluntary English play competition for Chinese students, with original scripts, designed to help students engage with issues of medical humanities (MH). Over a five-year period, the resulting plays have demonstrated growing maturity of understanding and presentation, as well as increasing engagement with the activity to a surprising extent. Focus group interviews with participants following the 2015 competition showed substantial awareness of MH issues, altered opinions as a result of participation, growing sophistication of views over time and contribution to disciplinary identity, in addition to benefits in problem-solving, teamwork and friendship.
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Art and intellectual disability: Exploratory evaluation of the diARTE programme
Authors: Blanca Galván Vega and Javier SaavedraAbstractThe present work offers an exploratory evaluation of the possible benefits of the diARTE programme. This programme was applied to a group of adults with mild intellectual disability (ID) and/or learning disorders from a pre-working centre in Seville (Spain). The intervention was characterized by the use of different artistic disciplines in order to improve their social skills. It was applied in eight sessions, each of them two hours long, for two months. Data on the possible benefits of the intervention were obtained in two ways: observation and interviews. Results suggest that there were improvements in self-knowledge and verbal and non-verbal ability, and learning and assimilation of artistic resources in order to deal with emotional situations.
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What is home? An art-based workshop to explore the physical, relational and wellbeing properties of Home
AbstractThis feasibility study was framed under the notion of creative practices as mutual recovery – the idea that shared creativity, collective experience and mutual benefit can promote resilience in mental health and well-being. The study evaluated the impact of an art-based workshop designed to examine participant’s notions of home. Thematic analysis was used to evaluate the textual data derived from three focus groups. The findings indicate that art-based workshops that incorporate principles of mindfulness can be used to raise awareness of mental health and well-being issues associated with challenging or inadequate notions of home. These workshops provide a forum for reflection and community in which these problematic notions can be meaningfully articulated and communicated and solutions discussed. This type of creative practice supports the notion of mutual recovery health, helps build resilience among residential workforce and thus helps them to better deal with existing problems.
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Designing and developing museum visits and art education workshops with cyanotype for people with Alzheimer’s
AbstractThis article describes the programme Tenemos cita con el arte, involving two visits to the Prado Museum and four visual arts creativity workshops using the cyanotype photographic printing technique, designed for people affected by Alzheimer’s and their caregivers. The programme is part of a larger nationwide research project that aims to make art and art education more accessible to people affected by Alzheimer’s and other dementias and their caregivers, giving them an opportunity for taking part in an arts-focused programme that alternates museum visits and visual arts creativity workshops.
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Group vocal improvisation as a music therapy technique in mental health settings: A narrative synthesis systematic review
By Irene PujolAbstractThis systematic review aims to map and assess the current evidence for the use of group vocal improvisation (GVI) as a music therapy technique in mental health settings. Synthesizing the types of interventions that have been evaluated in previous studies and their different research designs is a first step towards developing a body of evidence and guidance in order to inform the clinical application of GVI. Through a narrative synthesis method, the systematic search yielded 300 potentially relevant studies, out of which 30 fulfilled the full inclusion criteria. The analysis shows that GVI does not appear in the literature as an established music therapy technique and instead seems to be a by-product of an implicit dichotomy associating singing with pre-composed material and group improvisation with instruments. The literature also shows promising evidence for the psychological implications of the use of voice and of improvisation as distinct practices.
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Learning about bodies as going beyond the body: Health, anatomy and art
Authors: María Cabillas and Samuel Arias-SánchezAbstractThis article initiates a theoretical reflection about the importance of bringing health as a horizon in the teaching of Applied Anatomy and the potential of art as an instrument to do so. First, we look into the concept of health, using it to frame the process of learning about bodies in secondary schools. Second, we present a case study represented by a course in Applied Anatomy that illustrates how health appears directly connected to learning dynamics, in which art is used to foster students’ subjective engagement, facilitating the appropriation of what is learnt in class, and its use in their everyday life. Finally, we discuss the connections between art and anatomy, illustrating them with extracts from students’ reflections. This case study supports the explicit inclusion of health in the educational frame of Applied Anatomy, proposing it as an empowering strategy to foster self-care and healthy habits in high school students.
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Reviews
AbstractCrisis, creativity and society: Dance Movement Therapy embodying interdisciplinary pathways: 2nd European Association Dance Movement Therapy Conference, Milan, Italy, 9–11 September 2016
Second Annual Conference of the National Alliance for Museums, Health and Well-Being, Thackray Medical Museum, Leeds, UK, 6 March 2017
Using Poetry to Promote Talking and Healing, Pooky Knightsmith (2016) London and Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 239 pp., ISBN: 9781785920530, p/bk, $24.95
Creative Arts Therapies and Clients with Eating Disorders, Annie Heiderscheit (ED.) (2016) London and Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 413 pp., ISBN: 9781849059114, p/bk, $39.95
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