DEMENTIA, ARTS & WELLBEING NETWORK (DAWN)

西方社会正在被称为痴呆症的不可治愈的退行性疾病的日益流行所显著改变，到2025年，这种疾病将影响英国的100万人。我们对老年的预期因渐进性记忆丧失的可能性而黯然失色，家庭承受着支持社区中虚弱老年成员的压力，而世界各地的卫生和社会护理服务正在努力应对史无前例的记忆丧失患者人数的挑战。这一现象引发的问题对艺术和人文科学以及社会科学和医学的学者都有影响，痴呆症和福祉网络(曙光)将解决痴呆症的一个方面，在那里，来自不同学科的许多学者的兴趣是一致的：利用视觉和表演艺术来促进痴呆症患者的福祉。现有的许多知识都是默契的，存在于受痴呆症影响的艺术家和个人身上，因此黎明将有助于解决这一问题，方法是将轻度至中度痴呆症患者的互补视角与来自一系列学科的执业艺术家和学术研究人员结合在一起，通过视觉和表演艺术促进社区中痴呆症患者的福祉知识。痴呆症患者显然喜欢根据自己的喜好创作音乐、听音乐、唱歌、跳舞、绘画或参观画廊和博物馆。YouTube和Netflix联合推出的电影《内心世界》(Alive Inside)展示了那些看起来沉默寡言的人是如何以一种惊人的方式对艺术音乐做出反应的。广泛采用对痴呆症患者具有如此积极影响的ART干预措施将带来潜在的好处，这使得这个话题值得学术关注。然而，除了在英国只有大约120名专业人员为痴呆症患者提供音乐治疗外，研究证据很薄弱，而且只针对有限数量的具体干预措施，包括合唱、视觉艺术欣赏和创作活动、疗养院舞蹈和应用戏剧。需要更多地思考艺术方法中反映的原则和价值观；例如，当一个痴呆症患者的创作被公开展示时，传达的是什么信息？音乐、舞蹈、视觉和表演艺术与痴呆症患者的福祉之间有什么关系？痴呆症患者如何看待艺术？我们可以从艺术从业者成功地与痴呆症患者建立联系的方式中学到什么？正如《目标》中所描述的，这些和类似的问题将在黎明前通过四个为期两天的研讨会从理论和经验上得到解决。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；它对我们的生活方式以及我们在家庭和社区中的关系都有影响。由于许多人多年来一直生活在家里，智力不断下降，我们需要更好的方法来提高生活质量、个人尊严和尊重。音乐、舞蹈、视觉艺术和戏剧或表演--艺术--是痴呆症障碍不一定会阻碍参与和享受的一个领域。黎明将有助于增进对如何使更多的痴呆症患者通过艺术来保持或改善他们的福祉的知识和理解。

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.