Ageing Creatively - a pilot study to explore the relation of creative arts interventions to wellbeing in later life

许多老年人认为，创造性的艺术活动对他们的健康产生了积极的影响。最近，研究的重点是艺术对特定老年人群体的价值和影响，特别是那些患有痴呆症的人。然而，这些研究的结果主要是轶事，缺乏严格的方法;因此，很难就不同艺术活动对幸福的影响得出确切的结论。?创造性的老化？将建立一个强大的方法，使我们能够收集有意义的数据和评估的相对效益的创意艺术干预对老年人的福祉。有必要问一些基本的问题：创意艺术真的可以培养一种幸福感，减少许多老年人的孤独感？积极参与是否比被动体验（例如写歌与参加音乐会）有更大的好处？有些艺术形式比其他形式更有效吗？这些好处与其他定期社会接触的好处有显著不同吗？这是至关重要的，以实现创造性活动的过程和潜在的治疗结果的更好的理解，特别是要评估不同的方法的适当性。这是本提案的基本目标。初步的批判性文献综述将建立一个全面的画面，所有以前的和相关的研究已经在这一领域。?创造性的老化？将通过在适当的情况下使用现有的基础设施和开发进一步研究的方法来提供资金价值。不同的方法将被检查，不仅建立在纽卡斯尔大学？这是我自己最近的经验，而是基于最新的国际研究。第二，一系列每周两小时的课程，涉及约10名年龄超过55岁且目前不在工作岗位的参与者，将涵盖三个创意领域：创意写作和阅读，音乐（歌曲创作和音乐会），以及美术（绘画/雕塑和展览参观），进一步？控制？体验非创造性活动（如棋盘游戏）的团体。?创造性的老化？将围绕一系列旨在促进晚年心理健康和福祉的创造性活动开发和评估过程和方法，这些活动可以为相关的未来政策和实践提供信息。

Many older people feel that creative arts activities have had a positive impact on their health. Recently, research has focussed on the value and impact of the arts on particular groups of older people; especially those suffering from dementia. The results of these studies, however are primarily anecdotal and lack rigorous methodology; therefore, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions about the impact of different arts activities on wellbeing. ?Ageing Creatively? will establish a robust range of methodologies, enabling us to collect meaningful data and evaluate the relative benefits of creative arts interventions on the wellbeing of older people.There is a need to ask some fundamental questions: can the creative arts really foster a sense of wellbeing, reducing the sense of isolation for many older people? Are there greater benefits from active participation rather than more passive experiences (eg song-writing versus attending a concert)? Are some artforms more effective than others? Are the benefits significantly different from those of other regular social contact? It is vital to achieve greater understanding of the processes and potential therapeutic outcomes of creative activity and especially to evaluate the appropriateness of different methodologies. This is the fundamental aim of the current proposal.An initial critical literature review will build a comprehensive picture of all previous and relevant research already available in this field. ?Ageing Creatively? will offer value for money by using established infrastructures where appropriate and developing approaches for further research. Different methodological approaches will be examined, building not only on Newcastle University?s own recent experience, but on the latest international research. Secondly, a series of weekly 2-hour sessions involving groups of around 10 participants aged over 55 and not currently in the workforce will cover three creative areas: creative writing and reading, music (song-writing and concert-going), and fine art (painting/ sculpting and exhibition visits), with a further ?control? group experiencing non-creative activities (eg board games). ?Ageing Creatively? will develop and evaluate the processes and methodologies around a range of creative activities designed to promote mental health and wellbeing in later life which can inform relevant future policy and practice.