Biopsychosocial characteristics associated with engagement in art making among older adults.

In order to design patient-centered art making interventions for health and well-being, investigators need to understand the population of interest regarding their relationship to engagement in art making activities. This study, therefore, aimed to examine older adults' characteristics that were associated with engagement in art making activities, and to provide practical examples of how to use the identified characteristics. We conducted correlation analyses to evaluate such associations, using cross-sectional survey data from the 2014 Health and Retirement Study (n=731). Female sex, higher education, personality traits, positive attitude toward the arts, and a larger social network size were positively associated with engagement in art making activities (p<.05). Males and those with lower education could be targeted, while the type of art making activity could be tailored based on personality traits for patient-centered art making interventions. Future studies can use this information to empirically study art making interventions for older adults.