The Mind Map image above depicts the evolution of ideas and connections which link them. These ideas are the foundation for the deliverance of a series of creative engagement sessions with adults vulnerable to the negative health consequences of social isolation.
Social Isolation, considered a challenge to healthy aging and a risk factor for negative health consequences (Rodrigues et al., 2002; Fancourt and Finn, 2019), is also a direct impact of the current global pandemic which has forced closure of many of the social outlets and supports utilized by people to engage with creativity, community, and connectivity. Prior to this 'new normal' under which the sessions were implemented, age, trauma, homelessness, and economic need were among the primary factors originally considered as risk factors to poor health vulnerability.
Implementing the product developed in the Monroe Arts in Health Mind Map within the historic context of the global pandemic presented a unique set of opportunities. The pandemic forced closure of everything. Everything included the social supports for well being, creative, and social engagement. Through the collaboration with the Alliance for Aging in South Florida, a mature adult population was selected with an aim to toward support of healthy aging.
Rodrigues et al. (2020), recognize social isolation as primary obstacle to healthy aging, often cited by both care givers and the aging. They also demonstrated that engagement with creative expression can allow persons to experience multiple levels of self.
The theoretical and conceptual origins for these ideas lie in recognizing the influence of the social determinants of health on vulnerability (Gordon-Nesbitt, 2020), the acknowledgement of the mechanisms of art and culture in public health (UF, n.d.), and evidence of the efficacy of participant led approach to arts in public health activities (Rogers, 1979; Hinchcliffe, 2018).
The mechanism of self-transcendence attained through creative engagement, in this case specifically with poetry as the tool, was facilitated during the twice weekly one hour online poetry and spoken word sessions by the artist through conversations about poetry, through recitation and discussion of the artist's original work, and through writing prompts and discussion techniques to illicit self-expressive insights from the participants until writing group poems became the consuming activity of the sessions. Interaction with this tool supported self-expression, vocalization of individual stories, recollection, and social bonding over the shared common ground of these exchanges; as well as through the discovery of unique eccentricities through which the individual participants expressed themselves as distinct and collected members of a whole.
The results of the Voluntary Expressions sessions using poetry as tool to engage isolated populations to promote social bonding and well being support the claims and findings of the related arts in health and arts in public health literature. The participants demonstrated increasing bonds, trust, and cohesion; most significantly, the participants engaged and enjoyed themselves. The artist was also engaged and mutual well being was supported by the reciprocal exchanges. Overall, the record of the sessions provides supporting evidence for what is known as the 'social cure' or 'social prescribing' (Williams, 2020).
A final event was held in recognition of the participants' successful engagement with poetry to build bonds with each other which reduced their feelings of social isolation and supported their on-going engagement with an institution they deeply value. This value was expressed in poetic form by the participants and the final event honored and featured the artifacts of the Voluntary Expressions sessions.
REFERENCES
Alzheimer Poetry Project, http://www.alzpoetry.com/
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Fancourt, D. & Finn, S., 2020. Health Evidence Network synthesis report 67, What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being?: A scoping review, World Health Organization. https://www.euro.who.int/en/publications/abstracts/what-is-the-evidence-on-the-role-of-the-arts-in-improving-health-and-well-being-a-scoping-review-2019.
Gordon-Nesbitt, R. & Howarth, A., (2020). The arts and the social determinants of health: findings from an inquiry conducted by the United Kingdom All Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Arts & Health, 12:(1), 1-22. DOI:10.1080/17533015.2019.1567563. https://doi.org/10.1080/17533015.2019.1567563
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National Organization for Arts in Health (NOAH), (2017). Arts, health and well-being in America: A white paper commissioned by the national organization for arts in health through the support of Houston Methodist Center for Performing Arts Medicine. https://thenoah.net/about/arts-health-and-well-being-in-america-a-white-paper/
Rodrigues, L., Smith, A., Sheets, D., and Hemond, J., 2019. The Meaning of a Visual Arts Program for Older Adults in Complex Residential Care, Canadian Journal on Aging, 38:2 (pp 143–154) (2019). doi:10.1017/S0714980818000508
Rogers, C., (1979). The foundations of the person-centered approach. [Conference paper]. Retrieved from http://www.elementsuk.com/libraryofarticles/foundations.pdf
Seligman, M. and Csikszentmihalyi, M., 2000. Positive Psychology, American Psychologist, 55:1(5-14). https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.5
University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine, (n.d.). Arts and Culture in Public Health Evidence Based Framework. https://arts.ufl.edu/sites/creating-healthy-communities/resources/evidence-based-framework/
Williams, E., Dingle, G., Calligeros, R., Sharman, L. & Jetten, J., (2020). Enhancing mental health recovery by joining arts-based groups: a role for the social cure approach, Arts & Health, 12:2, 169-181, DOI: 10.1080/17533015.2019.1624584