Norma Daykin

The Impact of Participation in Performing Arts on Adolescent Health and Behaviour A Systematic Review of the Literature

This article reports a systematic review of literature published between 1994 and 2004 on the effects of performing arts for health in young people aged 11—18. The review includes research on music, performance, drama and dance in community settings and non-curricular mainstream education. A total of 17 electronic databases were searched and 3670 papers identified, 104 of which met relevance criteria. Full text scrutiny of 85 papers was undertaken and 14 of these were identified for review. The research was heterogeneous, making overall synthesis of results inappropriate. The review demonstrates that research on the impact of the performing arts on young people is at a relatively early stage.

The state of arts and health in England

This paper provides an overview of the current state of the arts and health field in England, through an examination of practice, research and policy developments. Five features of arts and health practice are identified: the scale of the sector, regional variations, mapping of arts and health initiatives, recent conferences and symposia, and the role of key agencies supporting arts and health initiatives. Eight areas of arts and health research activity are considered: retrospective qualitative evaluations, prospective evaluations with some quantitative assessments, experimental research on arts and health initiatives, economic evaluations of arts interventions, systematic reviews of arts and health research, theory development to underpin research efforts, and the establishment of dedicated arts and health research centres and research programmes. The final section considers three 2007 arts and health publications from the Department of Health and Arts Council England. There has been disappointment that the policy recommendations in these documents have not been acted upon. At the time of writing, however, there are some signs of renewed efforts to encourage national leadership from the Department of Health.

They'll still get the bodily care: Discourses of care and relationships between nurses and health care assistants in the NHS

This paper examines the impact of recent changes in work organisation in the NHS, drawing on research undertaken in two English hospital wards. Nurses’ and health care assistants’ responses to the introduction of a new skill mix are explored through qualitative interview data. The nurses’ perceptions are explored in relation to theories of occupational closure. These suggest that claims to distinct knowledge and ownership of the process of care may be undermined by the reproduction of hierarchical models of work organisation. The data suggest that the nurses’ ambivalence, recognised by managers, seems to limit their effectiveness in resisting fordist practices of routinisation and deskilling. It also impacts upon health care assistants, who seem to be excluded from nursing’s occupational project and whose contribution to care may, as a consequence, be devalued.

Developing user involvement in a UK cancer network: professionals’ and users’ perspectives

This paper explores the results of a consensus development exercise that explored diverse perspectives and sought to identify key principles for the development of user involvement in a cancer network. The exercise took place within one of 34 UK cancer networks and was a collaboration between the NHS, two universities and two voluntary sector organizations. The paper explores professionals’ and users’ perspectives on user involvement with reference to the current sociopolitical context of user participation. British policy documents have placed increasing emphasis on issues of patient and public participation in the evaluation and development of health services, and the issue of lay participation represents an important aspect of a critical public health agenda. The project presented here shows that developing user involvement may be a complex task, with lack of consensus on key issues representing a significant barrier. Further, the data suggest that professional responses can partly be understood in relation to specific occupational standpoints and strategies that potentially allow professionals to define and limit users’ involvement. The implications of these findings and the impact of the consensus development process itself are discussed.

Disruption, dissonance and embodiment: creativity, health and risk in music narratives.

This article explores notions of creativity, health and risk, drawing on interviews with freelance musicians in the UK. The social context of insecure music work is explored along with hegemonic discourses of creativity in which hedonism, risk and sacrifice are connected. The study draws on narrative analysis in order to examine responses to disruptions that affect creative work. It also explores ongoing accounts of dissonance in music work. The research builds on the new musicology in exploring the cultural basis of creative ideals: these extend beyond the arts to influence many areas of social life. It highlights the way in which the exercise of aesthetic judgements, including judgements about the self, serve to include and exclude particular identities, valuing and diminishing their contributions. The study also builds on sociological debates concerning the regulatory functions of reflexivity and body management in the context of late modernity. Here, strategies of embodiment are also seen in relation to empowerment as challenges to hegemonic notions of creativity. Finally, the research builds on methodological debates surrounding narrative analysis, adopting a sociological approach that emphasizes the particular context of music work and identifies core narratives that reveal connections between everyday experiences and deeper cultural processes.

Music making for health, well-being and behaviour change in youth justice settings: a systematic review

Youth justice is an important public health issue. There is growing recognition of the need to adopt effective, evidence-based strategies for working with young offenders. Music interventions may be particularly well suited to addressing risk factors in young people and reducing juvenile crime. This systematic review of international research seeks to contribute to the evidence base on the impact of music making on the health, well-being and behaviour of young offenders and those considered at risk of offending. It examines outcomes of music making identified in quantitative research and discusses theories from qualitative research that might help to understand the impact of music making in youth justice settings.

The Healing and Spiritual Properties of Music Therapy at a Cancer Care Center

BACKGROUND This article explores the theme of spirituality, health, and well-being, in relation to an emerging body of research on the impact of music therapy in cancer care. The focus of this article is a music therapy service established as part of a residential 5-day retreat program at a cancer care center. AIMS The aim of the study was to explore the experiences of patients with cancer with one-off group music therapy at a cancer care center. Central emphasis is given to exploring a range of themes relating to the healing and spiritual properties of music therapy group work. METHODS This is a qualitative study, following a modified grounded-theory approach. Twenty-three (23) in-depth tape-recorded telephone interviews were conducted with people who had taken part in the music therapy sessions. RESULTS The results focus on those findings relevant to notions of spirituality and healing, drawing on four overarching spirituality themes of transcendence, connectedness, search for meaning, and faith and hope. CONCLUSIONS The authors consider the applicability of broader schemas that attempt to define and explore the role and significance of spirituality.

Alcohol, young people and the media: A study of radio output in six radio stations in England

BACKGROUND This research investigated the representation of alcohol in radio output. The study was prompted by concerns that media output might be part of a developing culture of excessive drinking among young people. METHODS Alcohol comments were examined across six radio stations in England. 1200 h of weekend output was screened and the sampling frame included periods when references to alcohol would be expected, such as the Christmas period. Statistical analysis identified the volume and proportion of comments, whereas qualitative analysis explored these in more depth, focusing on the themes and discourses surrounding alcohol talk. RESULTS Of 703 alcohol comments identified, 244 involved presenters. The volume of comments about alcohol varied between stations, being lower on BBC than on commercial stations and being influenced by music genre. Seventy-three percent of comments initiated by presenters, compared with 45% of comments from all sources, encouraged drinking. The majority of comments by presenters support drinking in relation to partying and socializing. Alcohol comments seem to create identity for programmes and forge connections between presenters and audiences, although some presenters achieve this without mentioning drinking. The assumption that alcohol is necessary to have a good time is seldom directly challenged. CONCLUSIONS While it may be unsurprising that much of this content reflected themes of weekend drinking and partying, the study suggests that alcohol comments play a particular role in marketing and branding of radio output. Comments about alcohol are shaped by broadcasting conventions that make it difficult to challenge discourses surrounding excessive drinking. Further research is needed on the influence that radio output may have on drinking behaviour among young people.

Think of your art-eries: arts participation, behavioural cardiovascular risk factors and mental well-being in deprived communities in London.

Summary Objectives To investigate the association of participation in arts and cultural activities with health behaviours and mental well-being in low-income populations in London. Study design Cross-sectional, community-based observational study. Methods Data were taken from the cross-sectional baseline survey of the Well London cluster randomized trial, conducted during 2008 in 40 of the most deprived census lower super output areas in London (selected using the English Indices of Multiple Deprivation). Multiple imputation was used to account for missing data in the Well London survey. Descriptive statistics and regression analyses were used to examine the association between participation in arts and cultural activities and physical activity (meeting target of five sessions of at least 30 min of moderate-intensity physical activity per week), healthy eating (meeting target of at least five portions of fruit or vegetables per day) and mental well-being (Hope Scale score; feeling anxious or depressed). Results This study found that levels of arts and cultural engagement in low-income groups in London are >75%, but this is well below the national average for England. Individuals who were more socially disadvantaged (unemployed, living in rented social housing, low educational attainment, low disposable income) were less likely to participate in arts or cultural activities. Arts participation was strongly associated with healthy eating, physical activity and positive mental well-being, with no evidence of confounding by socio-economic or sociodemographic factors. Neither positive mental well-being nor social capital appeared to mediate the relationship between arts participation and health behaviours. Conclusion This study suggests that arts and cultural activities are independently associated with health behaviours and mental well-being. Further qualitative and prospective intervention studies are needed to elucidate the nature of the relationship between health behaviours, mental well-being and arts participation. If arts activities are to be recommended for health improvement, social inequalities in access to arts and cultural activities must be addressed in order to prevent further reinforcement of health inequalities.

The arts and global health inequities

In a world beset by health challenges of enormous proportions, and increasing disparities in the well-being and health of the poor and the affluent within and between countries, it behoves the editors of the journal to consider the contributions the arts can make given such global realities. In particular, we need to address the challenge that the concerns of this journal are either an elitist luxury available only to the already advantaged, or an irrelevant distraction, offering little or nothing to the task of tackling major sources of ill health, suffering and premature death in the world. Such views are brought into striking relief by the total absence of any reference to the arts in the recent report from the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, Closing the gap in a generation (CSDH, 2008). The report is a clarion call to recognise the growing levels of inequity in global health, and to acknowledge the key political, social and economic factors exacerbating health inequalities between and within countries throughout the world. Whatever powers the arts may have in relation to improving a sense of well-being and quality of life, it perhaps strains credulity to think that any form of creative arts practice or experience could help to address the serious and pressing challenges the Commission attempted to grapple with. To quote just a few of the statistics scattered throughout the report: