The arts and the social determinants of health: findings from an inquiry conducted by the United Kingdom All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing

ABSTRACT

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.

KEYWORDS:

• Government
• policy
• public health
• arts
• health
• wellbeing
• culture

Acknowledgments

The founding officers of the APPGAHW were Rt Hon. Lord Howarth of Newport (Labour), Rt Hon. Paul Burstow MP (Liberal Democrats), Sarah Newton MP (Conservative) and Dr Sarah Wollaston MP (Conservative). The current officers of the group are Rt Hon. Ed Vaizey MP (Conservative), Rt Hon. Lord Howarth of Newport (Labour), Chris Ruane MP (Labour) and Baroness Andrews OBE (Labour).

The Inquiry was managed by Alexandra Coulter, Director of Arts and Health South West, which provides the Secretariat to the APPGAHW on behalf of the Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance. Research and drafting of the report were undertaken at King’s College London by the corresponding author. The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) Special Interest Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing served as research partner and Guy’s and St Thomas’s Charity (GSTC) as a practice partner to the Inquiry, which further benefited from the oversight of parliamentarians and an Advisory Group.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. http://www.artshealthandwellbeing.org.uk/appg-inquiry/.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Paul Hamlyn Foundation; Wellcome under Grant 200811/Z/16/Z; and the Arts and Humanities Research Council under Grant AH/P014623/1;Wellcome Trust [200811/Z/16/Z].