THAT Creative Engagement Programmes deliver a wide spectrum of visual arts, movement and music with a range of people living with a variety of Mixed Long Term Conditions such as: Arthritis, Anxiety, Acquired Brain Injury, Stroke, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Pain, Dementia, MS, Palliative Care, Parkinson’s disease, and others.
Creative Engagement and Research
Tayside Healthcare Arts Trust proposes that creative engagement through the arts is of significant benefit to the health and wellbeing of those recovering from or living with Long Term Conditions (LTC).
All of our programmes are delivered in partnership with NHS Tayside, the three Health and Social Care Partnerships in Angus, Dundee and Perth & Kinross, national organisations or autonomous local groups. THAT employs professional Lead Artists to both run the programmes and help design their creative engagement content. Volunteer Artists are also recruited to provide practical artistic support to the Lead Artists and gain experience of Arts in Health work.
The Projects, through their funding agreements, meet the delivery costs for each programme. All partners provide a named Link, staff/volunteer support and where possible, premises to host the programmes.
THAT delivered our Long Term Conditions Creative Engagement Project 2013-15 funded by Creative Scotland and NHS Tayside, which compared the effectiveness of 3 different art forms (Visual Arts, Performance and Musicality) with different Long Term Conditions Groups, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and Dementia. THAT hosted a platform Arts and Health Educational Exchange within Dundee Contemporary Arts in September 2015. The findings from this project and the ACES Research Project was shared at the platform Arts and Health Event which began the conversations and appetite for the establishment of Arts and Health Network Scotland. For more information, please refer to the Long Term Conditions Creative Engagement Project Evaluation Report 2013-15
All of our programmes are delivered in partnership with NHS Tayside, the three Health and Social Care Partnerships in Angus, Dundee and Perth & Kinross, national organisations or autonomous local groups. THAT employs professional Lead Artists to both run the programmes and help design their creative engagement content. Volunteer Artists are also recruited to provide practical artistic support to the Lead Artists and gain experience of Arts in Health work.
The Projects, through their funding agreements, meet the delivery costs for each programme. All partners provide a named Link, staff/volunteer support and where possible, premises to host the programmes.
THAT delivered our Long Term Conditions Creative Engagement Project 2013-15 funded by Creative Scotland and NHS Tayside, which compared the effectiveness of 3 different art forms (Visual Arts, Performance and Musicality) with different Long Term Conditions Groups, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and Dementia. THAT hosted a platform Arts and Health Educational Exchange within Dundee Contemporary Arts in September 2015. The findings from this project and the ACES Research Project was shared at the platform Arts and Health Event which began the conversations and appetite for the establishment of Arts and Health Network Scotland. For more information, please refer to the Long Term Conditions Creative Engagement Project Evaluation Report 2013-15
Photograph of MS Society Dundee Drumming Group
Mixed Long Term Conditions, Perth and Kinross
Building on THAT's findings from our Creative Scotland 2013-15 Pan Tayside Project, THAT looked to develop a pilot and 2 year strategic programme delivery for people living with Mixed Long Term Conditions within Perth and Kinross. This project approach has been supported by The Gannochy Trust and NHS Tayside and was aligned to the Perth and Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership localities using Music and a variety of Visual Arts. This programme model has been developed to provide new approaches to working with a variety of groups with Long Term Conditions across Perth and Kinross. All THAT Creative Arts are designed, monitored and evaluated using the same principles and evaluation procedures. We are therefore able to bring together this collective body of evidence reflecting the breadth and value of this work under the broad Long Term Conditions umbrella.
Project Aims
We have developed three key aims to achieve with our partners that relate to all of our projects:
- Each THAT Project will seek to provide participants with improvements to their personal health and wellbeing, and so also benefit carers/staff.
- All THAT programmes will be thoroughly monitored and evaluated, providing a research and evidence-based model of service for partnership working across these areas of care.
- THAT will continue to advance its understanding of how best the arts can support this sector in delivering patient wellbeing and promoting self management.
The programmes are designed to challenge participants to enjoy exploring their creative abilities and so rediscover positive qualities about themselves.
ST/ART Project
THAT has worked with Stroke and Acquired Brain Injury participants since 2004, through the long running ST/ART Project. In 2009, the project secured recurring NHS Tayside support which has allowed it to develop as one of the key elements of THAT’s work. This support has allowed us to work regularly with participants over a prolonged period and to build long-term partnerships both inside and outside the healthcare systems.
The ST/ART Project provides an annual component at all three NHS Tayside Stroke Rehabilitation Units at; Stracathro Hospital in Angus, Royal Victoria Hospital in Dundee and at Perth Royal Infirmary. We work consistently in the community with Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland affiliated groups, with Speakability groups and with Headway - the Acquired Brain Injury Charity. We have also worked regularly with many Mainstream Cultural partners, including Dundee Repertory Theatre, Horsecross Arts, The University of Dundee and our highly successful ST/ART@DCA partnership which has developed and evolved over 12 years to now provide an annual access programme to Dundee Contemporary Arts for LTC participants exploring multiple printmaking media, digital photography, animation and much more.
The ST/ART Project provides an annual component at all three NHS Tayside Stroke Rehabilitation Units at; Stracathro Hospital in Angus, Royal Victoria Hospital in Dundee and at Perth Royal Infirmary. We work consistently in the community with Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland affiliated groups, with Speakability groups and with Headway - the Acquired Brain Injury Charity. We have also worked regularly with many Mainstream Cultural partners, including Dundee Repertory Theatre, Horsecross Arts, The University of Dundee and our highly successful ST/ART@DCA partnership which has developed and evolved over 12 years to now provide an annual access programme to Dundee Contemporary Arts for LTC participants exploring multiple printmaking media, digital photography, animation and much more.
Research
Through the work of the ST/ART Project and our other Long Term Condition Participatory Arts programmes, we have learnt a lot about the value of creative engagement, in its many forms, as a contribution to Health and Wellbeing. We know this because we have evaluated all of our work and analysed the evidence we have gathered. We have also been active partners in academic research in this field. In 2013, THAT, in partnership with the Social Dimensions of Health Institute of the University of Dundee, secured Chief Scientist Office funding for a two year Randomised Control Trial Research Project:
‘Can an arts based creative engagement intervention following stroke improve psychosocial outcomes? A feasibility trial of a creative engagement intervention for in-patient rehabilitation.’
As well as providing the underpinning philosophy and practice for the research project, THAT also provided the Research Manager and the two artists who were engaged to deliver the intervention under research conditions. The positive results of the research has led to a number of published papers and citations including:
"Feasibility study of the effects of art as a creative engagement intervention during stroke rehabilitation on improvement of psychosocial outcomes: study protocol for a single blind randomized controlled trial: the ACES study"
"Social context, art making processes and creative output: a qualitative study exploring how psychosocial benefits of art participation during stroke rehabilitation occur"
Contact
Further details can be requested from:
Chris Kelly
Projects Co-ordinator/ACES Study Research Manager
Telephone: 01382 835507
Email: Chris.Kelly2@nhs.scot
Chris Kelly
Projects Co-ordinator/ACES Study Research Manager
Telephone: 01382 835507
Email: Chris.Kelly2@nhs.scot
- Participatory Creative Engagement Programmes Combined Evaluation Report 2019-20
- Participatory Creative Engagement Programmes Combined Evaluation Report 2018-19
- Participatory Creative Engagement Programmes Combined Evaluation Report 2017-18
- Participatory Creative Engagement Programmes Combined Evaluation Report 2016-17
- Participatory Creative Engagement Programmes Combined Evaluation Report 2015-16
- Participatory Creative Engagement Programmes Combined Evaluation Report 2014-15
- Long Term Conditions Creative Engagement Project Evaluation Report 2013-15
