The state of arts and health in England

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the current state of the arts and health field in England, through an examination of practice, research and policy developments. Five features of arts and health practice are identified: the scale of the sector, regional variations, mapping of arts and health initiatives, recent conferences and symposia, and the role of key agencies supporting arts and health initiatives. Eight areas of arts and health research activity are considered: retrospective qualitative evaluations, prospective evaluations with some quantitative assessments, experimental research on arts and health initiatives, economic evaluations of arts interventions, systematic reviews of arts and health research, theory development to underpin research efforts, and the establishment of dedicated arts and health research centres and research programmes. The final section considers three 2007 arts and health publications from the Department of Health and Arts Council England. There has been disappointment that the policy recommendations in these documents have not been acted upon. At the time of writing, however, there are some signs of renewed efforts to encourage national leadership from the Department of Health.

Keywords:

• arts and health
• practice
• research
• policy
• England

Notes

^1. England is one of four countries making up the UK of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales). The decision was made to focus on England alone as the four countries have different legal and administrative arrangements covering the health sector, and each country has its own Arts Council responsible for supporting the arts.

^2. Thanks are due to Jane Beardsworth, ACE North West, Meli Hatzihrysidis, ACE National Office, Huttson Ho, ACE East, and Dom Jinks, ACE East Midlands.

^3. Arts therapies are clearly an important field of professional practice within the National Health Service in England. Individuals and organisations involved in creative arts therapies and arts and health projects have expressed the need to explore the respective roles, contributions and relationships of the different groups. London Arts in Health Forum hosted a panel discussion on this theme in 2008 that was well attended and helped to reach an understanding of the need to collaborate around some shared agendas. Further details of training, practice and research activity in the creative arts therapies can be found through the relevant websites given in the Appendix. Medical Humanities is also an important field with the UK, and has the potential to contributing to the wider evidence base on the importance of the cultural context for medicine. Two important centres of medical humanities in England are the Centre for Arts and Humanities in Health and Medicine at the University of Durham, and King's College London. These institutions have recently received new funding from the Wellcome Trust to establish centres of excellence (see: http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/News/Media-office/Press-releases/2008/WTX049941.htm).

^5. START in Manchester still promotes arts activities in the community for people with mental health needs. See: http://www.startmc.org.uk/

^7. See Tones and Green (1999) for a case study of the Withymoor Village Surgery.

^6. John Ashton developed a close association with the poet and painter Adrian Henri, and celebrated his contribution to the field of public health in an obituary appearing in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (2002), available from: http://www.johnrashton.securemachines.co.uk/

^8. See: Philipp, Baum, Macnaughton and Calman (2002), available from: http://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/

^9. The journal website: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title∼db = all∼content = t790627366

^10. Arts Council Regional websites can be accessed via: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/regions/index.php

^11. See: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/regularfunding.php for information on the organisations which receive regular funding from Arts Council England.

^12. According to the Framework document The Arts, Health and Well-being (2007), “441 projects with a focus on arts and health have been awarded a total of £6.52m,” since the funding scheme started in 2003.

^13. See UKPHA Report 25 for an account of the arts and health programme at the 2008 Liverpool conference http://www.ukpha.org.uk/

^14. See http://www.artsforhealth.org/pdfs/2008%20NW%20PH%20Conference%20final%20flyer.pdf for details

^15. National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, http://www.nesta.org.uk/about-us/

^16. The King's Fund launched its “Enhancing the Healing Environment” programme in 2000. “By the end of 2007” according to their website, “130 teams from 119 NHS trusts, two hospices and five HM prisons across England had participated in the programme, and more than 1,500 staff and patients had been involved in improving their hospital environments.” See: http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/ for further details, including a report from an independent evaluation by the York Health Economics Consortium.

^17. http://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/ From the Nuffield Trust website: “The Nuffield Trust is one of the leading independent health policy charitable trusts in the UK. The Trust's mission is to promote independent analysis and informed debate on UK healthcare policy. The Trust's purpose is to communicate evidence and encourage an exchange around developed or developing knowledge in order to illuminate recognised and emerging issues.” One such issue is “arts and health” and the Trust has published three significant reports in this area.

^18. See the Wellcome Foundation website: http://www.wellcomecollection.org/ for information about its programme of exhibitions, events and debates.

^19. For details of previous awards within the Wellcome Trust SciArt initiative and current arts awards, see: http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/

^20. See, for example, the case made by the Mental Health Foundation for “exercise on prescription” for people with depression: http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/exercise-and-depression/

^21. See: Daykin et al. (2008b) for a systematic review of research on art, design and environment in mental healthcare; Daykin et al. (2008c) for a systematic review of the impact of participation in performing arts on adolescent health, and Clift et al. (2008b) for a systematic mapping and review of research on singing and health.

^22. Pawson and Tilley's perspective has influenced the work of research teams at Anglia Ruskin/Central Lancashire, Manchester Metropolitan and Canterbury Christ Church universities.

^23. As noted in the last section, efforts have continued to provide appropriate evidence for the efficacy of the arts in terms of personal, social and health outcomes. It remains the case, however, that until the right kind of evidence is produced for the NHS, the evidence which does exist will be open to criticism within the scientifically dominated healthcare arena.

^24. At the time of writing, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.

^25. It should also be noted, however, that the Cayton Review took evidence from arts and health practitioners from across the country and undoubtedly made an effort to have its ears to the ground.

^27. The Department of Health did not issue a press release, and no press attended the launch of the Prospectus at the Evelina Children's Hospital in London.

^26. For the text of the debate visit the following site and search for debates on 6 March 2008: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld/lords_hansard_by_date.htm

^29. For the full text of Alan Johnson's speech see: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/News/Speeches/DH_088160

^28. Stickley, T., Price, V. and Foster, M. (2008) Open to all: Arts, social inclusion and mental health awareness training for museums and galleries. London: The National Social Inclusion Programme, the Museums Libraries and Archives Council, Tate Modern, the Wallace Collection and the V&A. See: http://www.socialinclusion.org.uk/work_areas/index.php?subid = 112