Individual and Community Health Research

Individual and Community Health

A sampling of recent research, organized chronologically, with links after each finding for you to read more.

In a meta-analysis including 50 studies with 217 outcomes and 2766 individuals, active visual art therapy was associated with an improvement in 18% of the patient outcomes.

CITATION: Joschko R, Klatte C, Grabowska WA, et al. (2024) Active visual art therapy and health outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Network Open.

Creativity and art therapies can promote healthy aging by improving cognitive performance, enhancing self-identity; and reducing stress and feelings of loneliness and depression.

Citation: Galassi, F., Merizzi, A., D’Amen, B., & Santini, S. (2022). Creativity and art therapies to promote healthy aging: A scoping review. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 906191.

For older adults, doing 1-3 hours of arts activities per week helps to prevent cognitive decline, with similar benefits to exercising for 1 hour per week.

CITATION: Bone, J. K., Fancourt, D., Sonke, J. K., & Bu, F. (2023). Participatory and Receptive Arts Engagement in Older Adults: Associations with Cognition Over a Seven-Year Period. Creativity Research Journal.

With rising mental health concerns, arts engagement offers an accessible, equitable opportunity to combat mental health inequities and impact upstream determinants of health.

CITATION: Rodriguez AK, Akram S, Colverson AJ, Hack G, Golden TL, Sonke J. (2023) "Arts Engagement as a Health Behavior: An Opportunity to Address Mental Health Inequities." Community Health Equity Research & Policy.

The CultureRx initiative in Massachusetts is the first program in the United States to offer arts and culture resources on prescription. This study's findings indicate that arts/culture experiences offer positive outcomes with minimal to no risk, making them a positive addition to healthcare referral practices.

Citation: Tasha Golden, Alyson Lokuta, Ranchchal Mohanty, Alyssa Tiedemann, T.W. Cherry NG, Maanasa Mendu, Nicole Morgan, Maria Auge, and Tessa Brinza, (2023). "Social prescription in the US: A pilot evaluation of Mass Cultural Council's “CultureRx.” Frontiers in Pubilc Health.. Vol 10

Arts group participation is associated with well-being in older adults, including life satisfaction and purpose in life.

CITATION: Jessica K. Bone, Daisy Fancourt, Meg E. Fluharty, Elise Paul, Jill K. Sonke & Feifei Bu (2022) "Associations between participation in community arts groups and aspects of wellbeing in older adults in the United States: a propensity score matching analysis." Aging & Mental Health.

Loneliness is a public health challenge, associated with premature death and poorer health outcomes. Arts engagement supports social connectedness in adulthood.

CITATION: Perkins, R., Mason-Bertrand, A., Tymoszuk, U. et al. Arts engagement supports social connectedness in adulthood: findings from the HEartS Survey. BMC Public Health 21, 1208 (2021).

In a study on the effect of art therapy on Syrian refugee children in the U.S., results showed reduced stress in refugee youth, significant decrease in separation anxiety, and a moderate effect on PTSD symptoms.

CITATION: Feen-Calligan, H., Ruvolo, L., Debryn, J., Nasser, S., Jackson, C., Seguin, D., Javanbakht, A. (2020). Art therapy with Syrian Refugee youth in the United States: An intervention study. The Arts in Psychotherapy, vol. 69.

People who engaged with arts activities on a frequent basis had a 31% lower risk of dying than non-arts participants, independent of demographic, socioeconomic, health, behavioral, and social factors.

CITATION: Fancourt, D. and Steptoe, A. (2019) The art of life and death: 14 year follow-up analyses of associations between arts engagement and mortality in the English Longitudinal Study of Aging. BMJ 2019;367:l6377.

Results from more than 3000 studies identified a major role for the arts in the prevention of ill health, promotion of health, and management and treatment of illness.

CITATION: Fancourt, D. and Finn, S. (2019). What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being? A scoping review. World Health Organization Press.

A two-week creative arts therapy camp for adolescents exposed to the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida demonstrated statistically significant reductions in posttraumatic stress, depression, and anxiety symptoms and significant increases in positive affect in participants.

CITATION: Hylton, E., Malley, A., Ironson, G. (2019). Improvements in adolescent mental health and positive effect using creative arts therapy after a school shooting: A pilot study. The Arts in Psychotherapy, vol. 65.

The presence of cultural resources in a neighborhood has a significant positive impact on a neighborhood’s health, the outcomes of its schools, and its crime rate.

CITATION: Stern, M., & Seifert, S. (2017). The Social Wellbeing of New York City's Neighborhoods: The Contribution of Culture and the Arts. Culture and Social Wellbeing in New York City. Research Report, Social Impact of the Arts Project.

In a study of 39 adults, a 45-minute art making session resulted in a significant reduction in their levels of salivary cortisol, the hormone associated with stress.

CITATION: Kaimal, G., Ray, K., Muniz, J. (2016). Reduction of Cortisol Levels and Participants’ Responses Following Art Making. Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 33(2), pp.74-80. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421656.2016.1166832

Performance scores in nine areas of cognitive function were significantly higher for workers in “green” office environments than for workers in conventional office environments.

CITATION: Allen, J. and Spengler, J. (2015). “Associations of Cognitive Function Scores with Carbon Dioxide, Ventilation, and Volatile Organic Compound Exposures in Office Workers: A Controlled Exposure Study of Green and Conventional Office Environments,” Environmental Health Perspectives.

Dancing contributes to improvements in mood, balance, physical functioning and cognition in older adults.

CITATION: Crumbie, V., Olmos, F., Watts, C., Avery, J., Nelson, R. (2015). The Impact of Dance Interventions on Mood and Depression in Older Adults. Therapeutic Recreation Journal, 49 (2).

The arts were associated with preserving ethnic and racial diversity in urban neighborhoods, lower rates of social distress, and reduced rates of ethnic and racial harassment.

CITATION: Stern, M.J., & Seifert, S.C. (2013). Cultural Ecology, Neighborhood Vitality , and Social Wellbeing - A Philadelphia Project.

Art spaces function as a conduit for building social networks that contribute to both community revitalization and artistic development.

CITATION: Grodach, Carl (2011) Art spaces in community and economic development: connections to neighborhoods, artists, and the cultural economy. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 31(1), pp. 74-85.

Decision makers often favor tourists over their own residents as patrons. They overinvest in large scale arts facilities, focus on particular districts (due to real estate interests), and fail to build decision-making frameworks so that local artists, smaller scale arts organizations, and distinctive cultural communities can participate in cultural planning.

CITATION: Markusen, A., & Gadwa, A. (2010). Arts and culture in urban or regional planning: A review and research agenda.Journal of planning education and research, 29(3), 379-391.

Arts participation was found to have a positive effect on social cohesion by bringing people together (particularly young and old), encouraging partnerships, promoting intercultural understanding, reducing fear of crime and promoting neighborhood security. Active participation in the arts had positive impacts on transforming negative perceptions of local authorities an agencies.

CITATION: Jeannotte, M. S. (2003), The International Journal of Cultural Policy, Vol. 9 (1), pp. 35–49.

Arts activities play a unique role in building social networks in neighborhoods, they enable access to new resources, and they build civic dialogue.

Citation: Diane Grams and Michael Warr (2003). "Leveraging Assets: How Small Budget Arts Activities Benefit Neighborhoods." Research report commissioned by The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation and funded by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Photos: League of Creative Interventionists Charlotte; Arts+

A review of further research