Far apart but close at heart: How do arts organisations in Latin America support the mental health of young people online during a global pandemic?

背景研究表明，流行病可引发精神痛苦(包括抑郁和焦虑)，特别是在年轻人中。新冠肺炎疫情给年轻人的心理健康带来了一个紧迫的问题，尤其是那些生活在大城市、已经面临心理健康不良挑战的年轻人。社区艺术组织通过使用特定的艺术形式支持年轻人，在促进精神健康方面发挥着至关重要的作用。通过目前的研究，我们已经与四个拉丁美洲国家(阿根廷、巴西、哥伦比亚和秘鲁)的五个艺术组织建立了牢固的联系。新冠肺炎疫情和随之而来的社会疏远措施迫使这些组织将活动转移到网上，以确保他们继续支持弱势年轻人度过这一危机时期。这种持续不断的情况提供了一个理想的机会来研究艺术组织如何重新发明他们的计划，以便在全球大流行期间继续支持年轻人。这包括研究这些变化对艺术工作者的影响，以及年轻人如何体验这种与同龄人、艺术组织和社区联系的新方式。目标总体目标是探索艺术组织(布宜诺斯艾利斯、里约热内卢、波哥大和利马)如何在全球大流行期间利用在线平台支持年轻人的心理健康，以及年轻人和艺术工作者如何经历这种变化。具体地说，我们的目标是：1)研究由于新冠肺炎大流行和社会疏远措施，艺术组织如何调整其活动以适应在线平台的使用2)探索艺术工作者如何经历这种向在线活动的转变3)探索参与者(18-24岁)如何经历这种向在线活动的转变4)了解年轻人如何应对新冠肺炎大流行期间他们生活中的变化5)在社区艺术组织中建立研究能力6)加强拉丁美洲现有的五个社区艺术组织的网络方法六项不同的活动将针对项目的目的和目标而进行。我们将收集数据，以检查每个艺术组织如何由于新冠肺炎封锁(活动1)而将其活动转移到网上，包括活动是如何设置和使用的。我们将使用常规的可获得的记录和对艺术组织关键人物的采访。在每个艺术组织，我们将进行10次与利益相关者和艺术工作者的访谈(活动2)，以及10次与该组织的参与者的访谈(活动3)，询问他们对转向在线活动的感受。一项有更多参与者参与的在线调查将探索采访中提出的具体经历。每个艺术团体将根据一种特定的艺术形式，举办一个有5-10人参加的创意工作坊(活动4)。这些研讨会将产生一部创造性的作品，如数字戏剧、说唱或舞蹈，讲述年轻人如何体验新冠肺炎和社会疏远措施如何影响他们的生活，以及他们如何应对这一点。我们将在有需要时培训艺术机构的研究人员(活动5)，并支持现有的组织网络继续分享知识和经验(活动6)。预期结果这项计划将带来新的知识，帮助艺术组织和其他类似机构应对未来的紧急情况，使它们能够无缝地继续支持年轻人的心理健康，即使在全球大流行的情况下也是如此。由于我们预计随着疫情的消退，这些变化将继续下去，因此，我们的发现将为艺术组织未来如何促进心理健康，以减轻年轻人常见精神障碍的负担提供信息。我们将传播调查结果和创造性产出，以确保在我们的伙伴国家和其他地区产生广泛的影响和受益者。

BackgroundResearch shows that pandemics can trigger mental distress (including depression and anxiety) particularly in young people. The COVID-19 pandemic has created an urgent problem for mental health in young people, especially those living in large cities and already facing challenges linked to poor mental health. Community arts organisations play a vital role in promoting mental wellbeing, by supporting young people using specific art forms. Through current research, we have formed strong links with five arts organisations in four Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Peru). The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting social distancing measures have forced these organisations to move their activities online to ensure that they continue to support vulnerable young people through this time of crisis. This ongoing situation provides an ideal opportunity to study how arts organisations are re-inventing their programmes to continue supporting young people during a global pandemic. This includes examining the impact of these changes on arts workers, and how young people are experiencing this new way of connecting with their peers, arts organisations and communities.ObjectivesThe overall aim is to explore how arts organisations (in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Bogotá and Lima) are using online platforms to support the mental health of young people during a global pandemic, and how young people and arts workers experience this change. Specifically, we aim to:1) Examine how arts organisations have adapted their activities to use online platforms due to COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing measures2) Explore how this shift to online activities is experienced by art workers3) Explore how this shift to online activities is experienced by participants (aged 18-24)4) Understand how young people are dealing with the changes in their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic5) Build research capacity in community arts organisations6) Strengthen an existing network of five community arts organisations in Latin AmericaMethodsSix distinct activities will address the project aim and objectives. We will collect data to examine how each arts organisation has moved their activities online due to the COVID-19 lockdown (Activity 1), including how activities were set up and used. We will use routinely available records and interviews with key people in the arts organisations. At each arts organisation, we will conduct 10 interviews with stakeholders and arts workers (Activity 2), and 10 interviews with participants of the organisation (Activity 3), asking how they have experienced the shift to online activities. An online survey with a larger number of participants will explore specific experiences raised in the interviews. Each arts organisation will implement a creative workshop with 5-10 participants (Activity 4) based on a specific art form. These workshops will produce a creative output, such as a digital play, a rap, or choreography, to narrate young people's experiences of how COVID-19 and social distancing measures affected their lives and how they dealt with this. We will train researchers from arts organisations where necessary (Activity 5), and support this existing network of organisations to continue sharing knowledge and experiences (Activity 6).Expected resultsThis project will lead to new knowledge that will help arts organisations and others like them, to respond to future emergencies so that they can seamlessly continue to support the mental health of young people, even through a global pandemic. As we expect that these changes will continue when the pandemic subsides, our findings will therefore inform how arts organisations promote mental wellbeing into the future to reduce the burden of common mental disorders for young people. We will disseminate the findings and creative outputs to ensure wide impact and beneficiaries in our partner countries and beyond.