Kee Hean Lim

Turning to art as a positive way of living with cancer: A qualitative study of personal motives and contextual influences

Why do some women turn to creative art-making after a diagnosis of cancer? Eleven women provided qualitative accounts that were analysed following guidelines for interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Some described taking up artistic leisure activities initially in order to manage emotional distress. Others emphasized their need for positive well-being, taking up art to experience achievement and satisfaction, to regain a positive identity, and to normalize family dynamics in the context of living with cancer. Participants’ turn to art-making was facilitated by biographical and contextual factors, including pre-existing craft skills, long-standing personal values and coping philosophies, family role models for managing adversity, and the supportive encouragement of family and friends. Other research has acknowledged that positive lifestyle change and posttraumatic growth can occur after a cancer diagnosis, and this study reveals a multi-faceted process. The findings suggest a need for further research into the experiences that facilitate positive lifestyle change and subjective well-being among people who are living with cancer.

Narratives of therapeutic art-making in the context of marital breakdown: older women reflect on a significant mid-life experience

This paper explores the narratives of three women aged 65–72 years. They reflected on an episode of therapeutic art-making in midlife, which addressed depression associated with marital crisis and breakdown. The narrative analysis focused upon on the ways in which participants narrated the events leading up to their participation in therapeutic art-making; the aspects of therapeutic art-making that continued to be given significance; the characters given primacy in the stories they told about their journey through therapy and marital breakdown; meanings, symbolic and otherwise, that participants ascribed to their artwork made during this turning point in their lives; and aspects of the narratives that conveyed present-day identities and artistic endeavors. The narratives revealed the complexity of the journey through marital breakdown and depression into health, and showed that therapeutic art-making could best be understood, not as a stand-alone experience, but as given meaning within the context of wider personal and social resources. Participants looked back on therapeutic art-making that occurred two decades earlier and still described this as a significant turning point in their personal development. Art as an adjunct to counselling/therapy was not only symbolically self-expressive but provided opportunity for decision-making, agency and a reformulated self-image.

Perceptions of occupational therapy compared with physiotherapy and nursing among minority ethnic and white United Kingdom school and college students: implications for recruitment

There is currently a recruitment crisis in occupational therapy in the United Kingdom and also evidence that minority ethnic groups are underrepresented in the profession. This study comprised 651 self-completion questionnaires and 43 depth interviews with minority ethnic and white school and college students to investigate factors influencing attitudes to careers in occupational therapy. Occupational therapy was much less well known than nursing or physiotherapy and, compared with the white participants, the minority ethnic group participants were less familiar with it. Differences were also found in what the minority ethnic and the white participants wanted from careers. Significantly, the minority ethnic participants were more likely to regard doing a degree as important but were also less aware that occupational therapy was studied at degree level. The participants tended to perceive similarities between occupational therapy and nursing and the implications of this are discussed. In conclusion, while 1 in 10 participants would consider a career in occupational therapy, with lower proportions from the minority ethnic than the white participants, many characteristics of careers considered important by these students applied to occupational therapy. Efforts should be made to increase awareness of occupational therapy with, for example, emphasis placed on degree level study, job security and the level of responsibility and professional nature of the career.