DEMENTIA, ARTS & WELLBEING NETWORK (DAWN)

西方社会正在被日益流行的无法治愈的退化性疾病——痴呆症所显著改变，到2025年，英国将有100万人受到痴呆症的影响。我们对老年的期望被逐渐丧失记忆的可能性所掩盖，家庭承受着支持社区中体弱多病的老年人的压力，而世界各地的卫生和社会护理服务正在努力应对前所未有的失忆患者的挑战。这一现象引发的问题对艺术和人文学科的学者以及社会科学和医学的学者都有影响，痴呆症和福利网络（DAWN）将解决痴呆症的一个方面，来自不同学科的许多学者的兴趣汇聚在一起：使用视觉和表演艺术来促进痴呆症的健康。许多现有的知识是隐性的，存在于艺术家和受痴呆症影响的个人身上，因此DAWN将通过将轻度至中度痴呆症患者的互补观点与来自一系列学科的实践艺术家和学术研究人员结合起来，通过视觉和表演艺术来提高生活在痴呆症社区中的人们的福祉知识，从而帮助人们了解这一点。痴呆症患者显然喜欢根据自己的口味制作音乐、听音乐、唱歌、跳舞、绘画或参观画廊和博物馆。电影《内心活着》（live Inside） （YouTube和Netflix）展示了那些看起来沉默寡言的人如何以一种惊人的方式对艺术——音乐做出反应。广泛采用对痴呆症患者有积极影响的艺术干预所带来的潜在好处，使这个话题值得学术界关注。然而，除了英国只有大约120名专业人士为痴呆症患者提供的音乐疗法外，研究证据不足，而且只有有限数量的特定干预措施，包括合唱；视觉艺术欣赏与创作活动；在护理院跳舞；应用戏剧。我们需要更多地思考艺术方法所反映的原则和价值观；例如，当痴呆症患者的作品被公开展示时，传达了什么信息？音乐、舞蹈、视觉和表演艺术与痴呆症患者的健康之间有什么关系？痴呆症患者如何看待艺术？我们可以从艺术从业者与痴呆症患者成功相处的方式中学到什么？如“目标”中所述，这些和类似的问题将通过DAWN在理论上和经验上加以解决，并通过四个为期两天的讲习班进行操作。学术界和更广泛的社会都认识到，痴呆症不仅仅是一个医学挑战；它对我们如何生活以及我们在家庭和社区中的关系都有影响。由于许多人在家里生活多年，智力下降，我们需要更好的方法来促进生活质量，个人尊严和尊重。音乐、舞蹈、视觉艺术和戏剧或表演（艺术）是痴呆症损害不一定妨碍参与和享受的一个领域。DAWN将有助于提高对如何使更多痴呆症患者通过艺术保持或改善其健康状况的认识和理解。

Western society is being altered significantly by the growing prevalence of the incurable, degenerative group of disorders known as dementia, which will affect one million in the UK by 2025. Our expectations of old age are overshadowed by the probability of progressive memory loss, families are under pressure to support frail older members in the community, while health and social care services worldwide are struggling to meet the challenge of unprecedented numbers of people living with memory loss. The issues thrown up by this phenomenon have implications for scholars in the Arts and Humanities, as well as in the Social Sciences and Medicine, and the Dementia and Wellbeing Network (DAWN) will address one facet of dementia where the interests of many academics from different disciplines converge: the use of the visual and performing arts to promote wellbeing in dementia. Much existing knowledge is tacit and lies with the artists and individuals affected by dementia, so DAWN will help to draw this out, by bringing the complementary perspectives of people with mild to moderate dementia together with practising artists and academic researchers from a range of disciplines to advance knowledge about wellbeing for people living in the community with dementia through the visual and performing arts. People with dementia clearly enjoy making music, listening to music, singing, dancing, painting or visiting galleries and museums, according to their tastes. The film 'Alive Inside' (YouTube and Netflix) illustrates how individuals who appeared to be uncommunicative can respond to art - music in this instance, in an astonishing way. The potential benefits to be gained from the widespread adoption of arts interventions that have such positive effects on individuals with dementia make the topic worthy of academic attention. However, with the exception of music therapy which is offered to people with dementia by only about 120 professionals in the UK, research evidence is weak, and then only for a limited number of specific interventions including choral singing; visual art appreciation and creation activities; dance in care homes; and applied theatre. More thought needs to be given to the principles and values reflected in artistic approaches to wellbeing; for instance, when creations by a person with dementia are shown publicly what messages are being communicated? What is the relationship between music, dance, visual and performance art and the wellbeing of people living with dementia? How do people with dementia regard the arts? What can we learn from the ways in which arts practitioners relate successfully with people with dementia? These and similar questions will be tackled theoretically and empirically through DAWN, operating through four, two-day workshops, as described in 'Objectives'. Both academics and the wider society recognize that dementia is not simply a medical challenge; it has implications for how we live our lives and our relationships within families and in communities. Since many people are living at home for years with declining mental abilities, we need better ways to promote quality of life, personal dignity and respect. Music, dance, visual art and theatre or performance - the arts - are one area where the impairments of dementia do not necessarily present impediments to engagement and enjoyment. DAWN will help to advance knowledge and understanding about how to enable more people with dementia to retain or improve their wellbeing through the arts.