Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, Kent CT1 1QU, UK.
Perspect Public Health. 2012 May;132(3):120-7. doi: 10.1177/1757913912442269.
There is growing international acceptance of the notion that participation in the creative arts can be beneficial for well-being and health. For over 30 years practical arts for health projects have been developed to support health care and promote health and well-being in communities. An increasing body of evaluation and research evidence lends weight to the value of such initiatives. However, the field of arts and health is complex and multi-faceted and there are challenges in moving beyond 'practice-based' research, towards building a progressive body of knowledge that can provide a basis for future 'evidence-based' practice in health care and public health. This paper reviews some of the population-level evidence from epidemiological studies on cultural participation and health, before considering research on active initiatives that draw on the creative arts in health care settings and communities to support health and well-being. The notion of a hierarchy of evidence is discussed in relation to arts for health initiatives and a plea is made for recognising the value of concrete case studies, qualitative research and the testimonies of participants and professionals alike in assessing both the value of creative arts activities and for understanding their impacts. Nevertheless, the need for robust controlled studies with precise measurable health outcomes is clear if we are to move towards the scaling up of arts interventions to achieve public health-level impacts from creative arts participation. A brief account of the current programme of research on singing and health that is underway at the Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health is presented as a possible model for future research on arts and health.
越来越多的人开始接受这样一种观点，即参与创意艺术活动有益于身心健康。三十多年来，一直致力于开展实用艺术促进健康项目，以支持医疗保健，并促进社区的健康和福祉。越来越多的评估和研究证据表明了此类举措的价值。然而，艺术与健康领域复杂多样，要想超越“基于实践”的研究，建立一个不断发展的知识体系，为未来的医疗保健和公共卫生领域的“循证实践”提供基础，仍然存在挑战。本文回顾了一些关于文化参与和健康的流行病学研究的人群水平证据，然后考虑了在医疗保健环境和社区中利用创意艺术的积极举措的研究，以支持健康和福祉。本文还讨论了证据层次结构的概念，并呼吁承认具体案例研究、定性研究以及参与者和专业人员的证词的价值，这些都有助于评估创意艺术活动的价值和了解其影响。然而，如果我们要将艺术干预措施扩大规模，以实现通过参与创意艺术获得公共卫生层面的影响，那么就需要进行严格的对照研究，并精确测量健康结果。本文简要介绍了目前在悉尼·德哈恩艺术与健康研究中心进行的关于歌唱与健康的研究计划，作为未来艺术与健康研究的可能模式。
