“Like a drawing of breath”: leisure-based art-making as a source of respite and identity among older women caring for loved ones with dementia

Abstract

Background: Caring for a family member with dementia is stressful. This study explores carers’ experiences of leisure-based art-making, and its contribution to psychological well-being.

Method: This study interviewed six women (>60 years old) with lengthy experience of caring for a relative with dementia. All engaged regularly in art-making. Findings were inferred through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.

Results: Participation in art-making promoted positive identity, and resilience for care-giving. It offered temporary respite from care-giving demands, helping participants maintain contact with the richness of the external world, and freedom from confinement. Art-making facilitated meaningful connections with others, including the person with dementia, and enabled positive feedback. Participants whose loved ones had recently died or moved to residential care, processed, in oblique, possibly symbolic ways, the end of their intense involvement in care-giving.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that meaningful creative leisure occupations may help to protect the psychological well-being of care-givers, promoting resilience.

Keywords:

• Leisure
• art
• care-givers
• dementia
• resilience
• well-being

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the participants who shared their stories. The research was self-funded. There are no conflicts of interest.