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The recognition of the connection between arts, health and well-being has been growing during the recent two decades in Finland. The arts and health field has evolved from grass-roots activities to more systematic approaches of integrating arts and culture as part of social welfare and healthcare services and health promotion. :This paper provides an overview of the current state of the arts and health field in Finland, through an examination of policy developments, practice, research and education. :The arts and health field has been gaining strength and institutionalizing in Finland since the beginning of the 1990s. During the 2010s, the field has gained momentum from national policy programmes and strategical cross-sectoral collaboration on the ministerial level. The article explores also the prospects of arts and health field in Finland. Both possibilities for success and some of the challenges hindering the development of the field are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social capital is often cited as shaping impacts of participatory arts, although the concept has not been systematically mapped in arts, health and wellbeing contexts. In wider health inequalities research, complex, differential, and sometimes negative impacts of social capital have been recognised. This paper maps of social capital concepts in qualitative research as part of the UK What Works for Wellbeing evidence review programme on culture, sport and wellbeing. Studies often cite positive impacts of bonding and, to a lesser extent, bridging social capital. However, reported challenges suggest the need for a critical approach. Forms of linking social capital, such as reframing and political engagement to address social divisions, are less often cited but may be important in participatory arts and wellbeing. Future research should further specify dimensions of social capital as well as their nuanced effects in arts, and wellbeing contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers how participatory arts informed by thinking in public health can play a significant part internationally in addressing inequalities in health. It looks beyond national overviews of arts and health to consider what would make for meaningful international practice, citing recent initiatives of national networks in English-speaking countries and examples of influential developments in South America and the European Union. In the context of public health thinking on inequalities and social justice, the paper posits what would make for good practice and appropriate research that impacts on policy. As the arts and health movement gathers momentum, the paper urges the arts to describe their potency in the policy-making arena in the most compelling ways to articulate their social, economic and cultural values. In the process, it identifies the reflexive consideration of participatory practice – involving people routinely marginalised from decision-making processes – as a possible avenue into this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This paper reports findings from a one-year UK knowledge exchange (KE) project completed in 2015. Stakeholders’ experiences of evaluation were explored in order to develop online resources to strengthen knowledge and capacity within the arts and health sector (www.creativeandcredible.co.uk). Methods: The project used mixed methods, including a survey, interviews and focus groups, guided by a Stakeholder Reference Group comprised of 26 leading UK evaluators, researchers, artists, health professionals, commissioners and funders. Results: The project identified opportunities for arts arising from current health and social care policy agendas. It also identified challenges including the lack of agreed evaluation frameworks and difficulties in evaluation practice. Conclusions: Co-production between stakeholders is needed to strengthen evaluation practice and support the development of the arts and health sector. Effective co-production can be undermined by structural and cultural barriers as well as unequal stakeholder relationships. The paper discusses recent initiatives designed to support best practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper challenges the “intervention-as-solution” approach to health and well-being as commonly practised in the international development sector, and draws on the disciplinary intersections between Community Music Therapy and ethnomusicology in seeking a more negotiated and situationally apposite framework for health engagement. Drawing inspiration from music-based health applications in conflict or post-conflict environments in particular, and focusing on case studies from Lebanon and South Sudan respectively, the paper argues for a re-imagined international development health and well-being framework based on the concept ofdeep listening.Defined by composer Pauline Oliveros as listening which “digs below the surface of what is heard … unlocking layer after layer of imagination, meaning, and memory down to the cellular level of human experience” (Oliveros, 2005), the paper explores the methodological applications of such a dialogic, discursive approach with reference to a range of related listening stances – cultural, social and therapeutic. In so doing, it explores opportunities for multi-levelled and culturally inclusive health and well-being practices relevant to different localities in the world and aimed at the re-integration of self, place and community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This paper explores two older Chinese immigrants' visual narratives on the value and impact of paintings beyond aesthetic merit, and the role art plays in their health, well-being and identity construction. Method: Focusing on two participants' accounts, this paper draws on data collected in a larger project that investigates ageing, housing and well-being through interviewing 32 older Chinese immigrants in New Zealand. Findings: The analysis illustrates that immigration to a new culture in old age often gives rise to experiences of biographical disruption and status-discrepancy, which may invoke isolation, anxiety and a sense of dislocation and loss. Findings reveal that art-making aids the participants in addressing biographical disruption and status-discrepancy and appreciating the richness of multiplicities of the self. Conclusions: Art contributed to positively influencing the well-being of both participants after they moved to a new culture later in their lives. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is growing evidence that participatory music can be supportive and empowering for marginalised, culturally diverse populations. Amid largely hostile reception of asylum seekers in Australia, a group of music facilitators regularly attends an Immigration Transit Accommodation facility to share music and singing activities with detained asylum seekers, to counter significant mental and emotional distress resulting from indefinite detention. Methods This paper outlines the key themes of a narrative analysis, from a health and wellbeing perspective, of music facilitators' monthly written observations recorded in 2012. Results By drawing on examples from observational narratives, we outline a framework that suggests links between music and singing, and the health and wellbeing of detained asylum seekers. The framework includes four intertwined concepts: (1) Humanisation, (2) Community, (3) Resilience, and (4) Agency. Conclusions The framework suggests the potential for participatory music to counter the significant impact of traumatic experiences and detention on asylum seekers' health and wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous studies have shown that cultural participation has a positive effect on health and well-being. The aim of this study was to analyse how use of cultural services and participation in cultural activities is associated with self-rated health (SRH) and quality of life (QOL), using validated outcome measurements and key socio-demographic factors.Methods: The study data are drawn from the Regional Health and Well-being Study conducted in 2010 in Finland. (N = 31,000, response rate 48%). The data analysed in this paper consist of 11,905 respondents.Results: Logistic regression models adjusted for key socio-demographic factors showed that use of cultural services was associated with good SRH and good QOL. Also, associations were found between the practice of cultural activities and good SRH and QOL. However, the associations between activities and SRH and QOL were somewhat weaker.Conclusions: Use of cultural services and practicing cultural activities seem to have a positive association with SRH and QOL. Providing citizens with cultural services and activities can be seen as a silent social policy that has the potential to improve SRH and QOL. Further studies with a longitudinal design are needed to examine the causality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In Norway and Sweden, the governments see a potential for establishing a policy for cultural participation, based on the assumption that cultural activities will improve health and well-being. Aim: The aim was to survey the scientific literature in Norway and Sweden concerning cultural interventions for increased well-being and health. All applications of cultural activities in medical and leisure time field were included. Methods: Medline, Cinahl, Cochrane, Psycinfo, Proquest, Sportdiscus, PsiTri, Norart, ERIC, www.helsedirektoratet.no, www.folk2.no, www.nakuhel.no, www.ssd.gu.se, www.scb.se were browsed. Additionally, grey literature such as books, reports, as well as White and Green Papers has been searched. Studies published from 1995 to 2009 were included. Results: Mostly effects of cultural participation in clinical settings were studied, focusing on small groups. Very few studies have been published regarding public health aspects. The few epidemiological studies were for the most part carried out in Sweden. In Norway the prime issue has been music therapy. Conclusions: More epidemiological and longitudinal studies addressing cause-effect relations and intermediary mechanisms are warranted as well as public health intervention studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The United Kingdom All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing was formed in 2014 and, the following year, initiated an Inquiry into the relationship between arts engagement, health and wellbeing. This led to a substantial report being launched in Parliament in July 2017. Methods: The Inquiry comprised 16 round-table discussions, a series of expert meetings and a lengthy period of desk-based research. The latter applied a realist method in seeking to reconcile policy, practice and evidence. Consideration of the social determinants of health formed the theoretical framework. Results: Evidence was found of a beneficial relationship between arts engagement, health and wellbeing across the life course. Conclusions: Arts engagement can mitigate the social determinants of health by influencing perinatal mental health and child cognitive development; shaping educational and employment opportunities and compensating for work-related stress; building individual resilience and enhancing communities. Further research is needed in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Migrant populations are among the hardest to reach for research purposes. Methods: An interdisciplinary research team piloted a modified version of Boal's simultaneous dramaturgy with Roma mothers in Belfast. Results: The technique, based on scripted performances, translations, and discussions, proved effective for engaging with this hard-to-reach population, despite low levels of literacy, high language barriers, and cultural separateness. The approach uncovered attitudes to pregnancy which reinforce health inequalities, and present significant challenges for improving the health of marginalized populations. Conclusions: This pilot underlines the importance of building trust through holistic approaches to working with hard-to-reach populations through the creative arts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern museums do more than display historical artefacts and culturally relevant materials. The twenty-first-century museum is both a physical, technological and virtual space to learn about the past, present and future. Furthermore, the emerging importance of the social and well-being aspect of museum engagement with communities, as social justice campaigners supporting positive mental health and well-being, has never been more pronounced. The modern museum engages with far more people than visitor numbers can account for, presenting a challenge for museums to assess, evaluate and demonstrate their success, worth and value. This article assesses what the modern museum does, how it can measure its social impact, and specifically critiques the use of social return on investment methodology as an effective measurement tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]