A qualitative exploration of community-based group art initiatives and well-being for young adult carers

本研究旨在促进对社区视觉艺术活动的社会意义和价值的理解，这些活动适用于不同社会文化和政治背景下的边缘化年轻成人照顾者。它建立在当前关于创造力和幸福感的知识基础之上。关于艺术和幸福的文献是由关于幸福概念的理论问题以及这与艺术和创造性实践的本质如何相关的理论问题所支撑的。幸福是一个广泛的概念，超越了传统的haedonic（愉悦的感觉）和eudaemonic（良好的功能）的定义，包括对生活满意度的主观评估。根据社会资本和相对匮乏等因素，这些因素在不同社会中有所不同。主观幸福感与创造力正相关，创造力被视为探索新事物的过程。艺术是创造力的一种表达，也是一种社会建构，其功能包括评论、说服和崇拜。以社区为基础的视觉艺术在社会背景下运作，其改善心理社会福祉的潜力是一个不断发展的研究领域。与此同时，对全球弱势青年心理健康的研究也日益受到重视。许多年轻的成人护工（YACs）就属于这一类。年龄在16-24岁之间，YACs负责照顾家庭成员，占全球年轻人的2-8%。尽管关怀可能有助于培养韧性、积极的身份认同和同理心，但它也可能阻碍社会资本、教育和机会。大规模研究将YACs与较低的主观幸福感联系起来，许多研究报告称，在成年早期出现了心理健康问题。因此，有必要保护青少年的福祉，而以社区为基础的艺术提供了一种潜在的支持形式。年轻人越来越认识到社区艺术的社会心理效益。作为艺术心理治疗的经济替代方案，它具有社会参与性，成本效益高，并鼓励积极的发展过程，如建立技能和信心。然而，它对YACs福祉的潜在益处尚未成为研究的重点。与此类研究相关的是艺术与健康研究的方法论问题。当前的文献挑战了使用传统科学方法来测量主观经验构念的逻辑。最近的研究试图通过赋予参与者选择基于艺术或其他方法来探索意义和加深理解的权力，来弥合研究者与参与者之间的分歧。这种方法也被广泛的青少年艺术协会研究所推荐，但尚未应用于青少年艺术协会的团体艺术活动和福利。博士学位旨在探索社区群体艺术的社会意义和价值是如何被感知和体验的。为了加深这种理解，将在英国和尼日利亚的两个社会文化和政治不同的背景下进行比较。英国为YACs运行各种方案，为拟议的研究提供潜在的实地地点。尼日利亚对艺术和福祉的兴趣日益浓厚，伊巴丹大学和华威大学在青年心理健康领域建立了联系。拟议的项目将采用批判现实主义视角下的定性方法。采用研究人员观察、访谈和焦点小组讨论的传统方法将得到扩展，包括与参与适当项目的yac、艺术家和调解人一起采用参与性和以艺术为基础的方法，目的是加强利益攸关方的代理和理解。数据将纳入框架分析，以便对目标进行有组织的评估。数字平台将使跨环境通信成为可能。

This research seeks to advance understanding of the social meaning and value of community-based visual arts activities for marginalised young adult carers across different socio-cultural and political contexts. It builds on current knowledge about creativity and well-being.Literature on art and well-being is underpinned by theoretical questions concerning the concept of well-being and how this relates to the nature of art and creative practice. Well-being is a broad concept reaching beyond conventional haedonic (pleasurable feeling) and eudaemonic (functioning well) definitions, to include subjective evaluations of life satisfaction. These vary across societies according to factors such as social capital and relative deprivation. Subjective well-being relates positively to creativity, where creativity is taken as the process of exploring newness. Art is an expression of creativity and a social construct whose functions include commentary, persuasion and worship. Community-based visual art operates in a societal context and its potential to improve psycho-social well-being is a growing area of research.Concurrently, there is an increasing research focus on global mental health for vulnerable young people. Many young adult carers (YACs) fall within this category. Aged between 16-24, YACs are responsible for the care of family members and account for 2-8% of young adults worldwide. Although caring may help develop resilience, positive identity and empathy, it can also hinder social capital, education and opportunities. Large-scale studies associate YACs with low subjective well-being, and many report developing mental health issues in young adulthood. There is therefore a need to safeguard the well-being of YACs, and community-based art offers a potential form of support. Among young people the psycho-social benefits of community-based art are increasingly recognised. As an economic alternative to art psychotherapy it is socially engaging, cost-effective and encourages positive developmental processes such as building skills and confidence. However, its potential to benefit the well-being of YACs has not yet been a focus of research. Related to such research is the question of methodology in arts-and-wellbeing studies. Current literature challenges the logic of using conventionally scientific methods to measure subjectively experienced constructs. Recent studies have attempted to bridge researcher-participant divides by giving participants agency to choose arts-based or other methods to explore meaning and deepen understanding. This approach, also recommended in broader research with YACs, has not yet been applied in the context of group art initiatives and well-being in YACs.The PhD aims to explore how engagement in community-based group art is perceived and experienced in terms of social meaning and value for the well-being of YACs. To deepen this understanding, a comparison will be made across two socio-culturally and politically diverse contexts in the UK and Nigeria. The UK runs various programmes for YACs, providing potential field-sites for the proposed study. Nigeria has a growing interest in arts and well-being, with links between Ibadan University and Warwick University in the area of youth mental health. The proposed project will adopt a qualitative methodology within a critical realist perspective. Conventional methods using researcher observations, interviews and focus-group discussions will be extended to include participatory and arts-based approaches with YACs, artists and facilitators involved in suitable projects, with the aim of enhancing stakeholder agency and understanding. Data will be incorporated into a framework analysis, allowing structured assessments of objectives. Digital platforms will enable communication across settings.