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

这项研究旨在促进不同社会文化和政治背景下被边缘化的年轻成年照顾者对以社区为基础的视觉艺术活动的社会意义和价值的理解。它建立在关于创造力和幸福的现有知识的基础上。关于艺术和幸福的文献是由关于幸福的概念以及这与艺术的本质和创造性实践的关系的理论问题支撑的。幸福是一个广泛的概念，超越了传统的享乐(愉悦的感觉)和幸福感(运作良好)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贫困等因素，这些因素在不同的社会中是不同的。主观幸福感与创造力呈正相关，创造力被视为探索新事物的过程。艺术是一种创造性的表达，是一种社会建构，其功能包括解说、说服和崇拜。基于社区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日益增长的研究领域。同时，越来越多的研究关注全球弱势青少年的心理健康。许多年轻的成年照顾者(YAC)都属于这一类。青年会的年龄在16岁至24岁之间，他们负责照顾家庭成员，占全球年轻人的2%至8%。尽管关怀可能有助于发展韧性、积极的认同感和同理心，但它也可能阻碍社会资本、教育和机会。大规模研究将青年会与较低的主观幸福感联系在一起，许多研究报告称，青壮年会出现心理健康问题。因此，有必要保障青年会的福祉，而基于社区的艺术提供了一种潜在的支持形式。在年轻人中，以社区为基础的艺术的心理社会益处越来越得到认可。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，并鼓励积极的发展过程，如培养技能和信心。然而，其有益于青年会福祉的潜力尚未成为研究的重点。与这种研究相关的是艺术与福祉研究的方法论问题。目前的文献挑战了使用传统的科学方法来衡量主观经验的结构的逻辑。最近的研究试图通过给予参与者选择基于艺术的方法或其他方法来探索意义和加深理解，来弥合研究人员和参与者之间的分歧。这一方法在对青年会的更广泛的研究中也得到了推荐，但尚未在青年会的群体艺术倡议和福祉的背景下应用。博士学位旨在探索如何从社会意义和对青年会福祉的价值的角度来看待和体验参与以社区为基础的群体艺术。为了加深这种理解，我们将对英国和尼日利亚两个不同的社会文化和政治背景进行比较。英国为青年会开展了各种项目，为拟议的研究提供了潜在的实地考察地点。尼日利亚对艺术和福祉的兴趣与日俱增，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性现实主义视角下的定性方法。利用研究人员观察、访谈和焦点小组讨论的传统方法将扩展到与参与适当项目的青年理事会、艺术家和促进者一起采取参与性和以艺术为基础的方法，目的是加强利益攸关方的机构和了解。数据将纳入框架分析，从而能够对目标进行结构化评估。数字平台将实现跨设置的交流。

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.