The benefits of participation in the arts: outcomes experienced by STAA’s participants

STAA interprets participation in the arts as: actively doing, making, creating, painting, playing singing, dancing or being a member of the audience when attending a cultural event e.g. watching a film, play, concert, visiting an exhibition, museum or art gallery. STAA aims to deliver a positive creative experience for everyone participating and focuses on the process of engaging with the art form rather than creating an end product. People create wonderful work that they are justifiably proud of and we celebrate this.

People referred begin participating at different starting points dependent on their personal circumstances. They have a wide range of abilities and have different outcome goals when embarking on sessions and experience different degrees of benefit, again, dependent on their personal circumstances.

Health and well being outcomes.

Engagement in the arts has the power to transform lives: to improve self esteem, to help people feel better about them and enable people to be more confident in their abilities through taking pride in their achievements and increasing their self confidence.

The arts offers dignified, meaningful ways to enjoy time, it is rewarding for all who participate and enables people to live with their condition with dignity.

The identity of the participant is validated through participation –their input matters and is valued and it affirms one’s sense of self.

Engagement maintains a person’s mental health and ‘keeps people’s spirits up’ or ‘lifts the spirits’ if a person is feeling low. Participation maintains and increases morale. Activities alleviate symptoms of depression- people are diverted, focused on an activity and forget their troubles helping to prevent people from becoming ill and needing hospital admission: STAA believes that the arts can be a long term insurance policy for keeping people well.

Participation gives people a new purpose: starting a new hobby allows people to try new things or they havr the chance to revisit activities they once enjoyed.

Engagement allows people to refresh their skills and may slow down their decline. New skills can be learnt. People are able to make decisions and use memory and other cognitive skills-such as problem solving.

 People have opportunities for expressing opinions and control which is important if people are unable to make choices in other aspects of their lives.

Communication- people can engage and connect with the world in different ways by communicating feelings and thoughts through the media of dance, movement, music, painting etc. People have positive experiences using different senses.

Self expression: people may have difficulties in finding ways to express themselves but they still have expressive abilities that are imaginative, insightful, humorous, and poetic. The arts allow opportunities for different facets of personality to be expressed.

Experiencing the arts gives people enjoyment, fun and pleasure. These may be momentary experiences or may stay with the person for a time. Activities relieve boredom It gives back to people a sense of joy. 

Participation in a group situation: doing new or familiar things together can evoke memories, build relationships and create a sense of belonging around a shared activity with shared goals.

Engaging in activities helps people to relax if they feel anxious. It can reduce stress and fears can be released, People who might be agitated become calmer through engagement (alleviating the frustration that comes with being bored).

People in the later stages of dementia experience enjoyment and pleasure ‘in the moment’. They may forget their interactions soon after they stop doing them. STAA believes that it is valid for a person to experience a pleasant activity for its own sake, for the pleasure generated while doing it whether this is remembered or not.

How STAA gathers evidence to demonstrate the impact of its arts interventions.

STAA monitors how people respond to sessions while they are receiving them. This feedback gives us evidence that people value and enjoy their experiences and experience health and well being outcomes. Feedback forms are completed after every session by the artist and participant. A questionnaire is completed by the participant at the end of a block of sessions. Informal feedback is recorded by the artist and co-ordinator from the participant’s carers and person referring the individual to the service. Photographic documentation is used to record the artistic output generated during the sessions. Through this process STAA is able to demonstrate the changes that occur for the participant and the outcomes they experience.

In 2004 an STAA’s work was independently evaluated by Professor David Jolley and Kate Read of DementiaPlus West Midlands.

“The work of STAA goes across boundaries. It is used by health and Social Services….it is accessed through voluntary organisations, age related and cross cultural. This provides a sense of sharing and cohesion.”

“It gives an option for older people, particularly those with mental health problems, of adding something to their lives.”