Arts and Health
The arts can improve your health
We look at how health workers have teamed up with artists to promote health and well-being
Participating in music, dance, singing or painting can promote health, it was claimed at a recent conference held at the brand new Phoenix Square building. Indeed, I read an article recently that claimed that people who sing in a choir have a much lower rate of illness than people who do not.
On the other hand ... musicians who play in bands seem to get sick at a higher rate than most people, judging from the rate at which they drop out of gigs. Even so, drama is being used by people working with those suffering from mental health problems. Drama is also being to spread the word about things like cancer treatment, reaching communities with messages about testing where conventional methods have failed.
Mantle Arts has been working with health in North West Leicestershire
What was clear from the conference is that arts organisations have been working closely with local councils, the NHS and other public agencies to spread health messages and to help patients get better. We watched a film about a group of school children who have asthma. Musicians take trumpets and brass instruments into the class room and teach them to play. Learning to breathe correctly to play an instrument helps the kids with their asthma and there were some remarkable improvements as a result of this activity.
Pregnant teenagers
Comedians have created a workshop in which teenagers can work on material about pregnancy and sex education. Turning serious issues into comedy has helped get the message across in a way which was failing to work with conventional methods.
Much of this work involves thinking outside of the box and being creative about how to work creatively with health issues. Drama and music provide powerful media for getting messages across. Well we know that from what we see on the TV soap operas and from the lyrics of many popular songs and rock bands.
Arts and mental health
The arts can be used to support people with a wide range of physical conditions but in the area of mental health, drama has been playing a particularly interesting role. Some people find it very difficult to get their views across to doctors and professionals because of their mental conditions. Actors have worked with individuals to understand their concerns about hospitals and treatments and then have represented those views with doctors through acting the role of the patients and saying, in an articulate way, what they would have found extremely difficult to say in real life.
Role playing people with mental health conditions has been used effectively in the training of junior doctors.
BrightSparks - working with mental health service users
There are many examples of art being used as therapy. One worker talked about how she had got socially isolated old people to get out of their houses and spend some time painting or modelling with clay. The results are encouraging: improvements in health and well-being and a decline in symptoms.
The cost of providing these services is a lot less than the cost of providing drugs and time spent in hospital, saving the NHS a lot of money.
Arts offer particularly valuable opportunities for working with stress, depression and anxiety. Painting, drawing, creative writing, clay work, sculpture and drumming have known therapeutic values and can often provide both patients and doctors with insights into the conditions and the ways they are affecting the mind and personality.
Tackling health inequalities
It is not only personal health where the arts are playing a role. Art is also a way of tackling the inequalities we see in health and getting through to communities that are hard to reach by conventional methods. Actors, comedians and singers can reach people with messages about smoking, alcohol, sex and eating. Film makers and animators have been producing videos and cartoons with particularly powerful messages. Young men and attitudes towards alcohol and sexual health is just one of many projects where film makers have scored a hit.
We will keep our eyes open for examples of how artists are working with health issues right here in Leicester/shire and bring you some news and info in the weeks ahead.
Links
Emphasis: East Midlands Public Health
Arts for Health
Big Difference Company
Bronchial Boogie
Sinfonia Viva: Fever
Gypsy Traveller Health Ambassadors
Chlamydia dance and hip hop
