Routledge Handbook of Arts and Health

This comprehensive Handbook defines, surveys, and critiques the burgeoning discipline of arts and health. It brings together the growing evidence base and discusses policy and practice from around the world. Divided into five sections, the Handbook introduces the discipline of the arts and health, explains its importance, and critically examines historical developments, current practice, research theory, and policy. The first section looks at historical and contemporary approaches to the arts and health, including considerations from global perspectives and discussion of relevant models and frameworks for conceptualising it. The second section provides an overview of the main methods, applications, evidence base, and active ingredients of individual domains of art, such as the performing arts, creative writing, and the visual arts. The third section highlights how the arts are used to help with specific health needs and with specific populations, providing a more detailed overview of research and practice in key areas, such as adult mental health, and working with children and young people. In the fourth section, consideration is given to how the arts can be used and integrated with specific health professions, such as within public health interventions, forensic settings, psychiatry, schools, hospitals, and occupational therapy. The fifth section explores established and emerging theoretical perspectives, debates, and models for understanding the impact of the arts for health, including epidemiological, biological, social, ethical and critical perspectives. The Handbook ends with a discussion of trends, complexities, and future directions in the field. A comprehensive overview of the expanding research and scholarship in the arts and health, this Handbook is an essential reference for all advanced students, scholars, and practitioners from a wide range of related backgrounds, including the health professions, psychology, education, and the medical humanities.

Nicola J. Holt is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of the West of England, United Kingdom. Sofia Vougioukalou is research fellow at the Centre for Adult Social Care and the Centre for Trials research at Cardiff University, United Kingdom. Victoria Tischler is Professor of Behavioural Science at the University of Surrey, United Kingdom. Elisabetta Corvo is senior lecturer in Health Promotion and Public Health at Canterbury Christ Church University, United Kingdom.

About the editors, Preface, Introduction: Charting areas of the arts and health, Section One: Historical and Contemporary Contexts of the 'Arts and Health', 1. History of the Arts in Health, 2. Positioning the Arts and Health: Models and Frameworks , 3. The Role of the Arts in Supporting our Minds, Bodies, Brains, and Behaviours: Updates and Progress since the 2019 WHO Health Evidence Network Synthesis Report on Arts & Health, 4. Global Perspectives on Creative Health, 5. The need for a critical perspective on arts and health research and evidence reviews, Section Two: Domains of 'Arts and Health': Impact and Practice, 6. Using the Visual Arts and Crafts for Health and Wellbeing: the EPICS framework, 7. Music, Health, and Wellbeing, 8. Words as Therapy, 9. Dance, Health and Wellbeing, 10. Theatre, Health and Wellbeing, Section Three: Across the Lifespan: 'Arts and health' practice with specific populations, 11. Arts and Perinatal Mental Health, 12. Creativity, Arts and the Mental Health of Young People: Case Exemplars, 13. From the Edge: Using Expressive Arts for Mental Health Support of Forcibly Displaced People, 14. Arts in the Context of Trauma, 15. Arts and Health in the Context of Adult Mental Health, 16. The arts in the prevention and management of chronic health conditions, 17. Arts and Health for Older Adults, 18. End-of-Life Review: Embracing Art, Technology and Culture, Section Four: The Arts within Allied Health and Other Professions, 19. Occupational Therapy and Arts, 20. Arts in Psychiatry and Mental Health Research: Complex Identities and Interdisciplinary Praxis, 21. The Arts as a Public Health and Health Promotion Tool, 22. Arts in Social Prescribing, 23. Art in Hospital: Beyond the Walls and Wards - Towards Health Creating Policies, Spaces and Experiences to Improve Quality and Care, 24. Arts in Criminal Justice, 25. Arts in Educational Settings: The Power of the Arts in Supporting Children and Young People's Mental Health and Wellbeing, 26. The Role of Museums and Galleries in Promoting Health and Wellbeing, 27. Arts and the Media - Space 22: Television-Based Arts Interventions for Better Mental Health, Section Five: Theoretical issues and perspectives, 28: Building a Meta-Theory on Arts and Health: Determinants, Ingredients, Mechanisms, and Moderators, 29: The Epidemiology of Arts and Health, 30: The Psychobiology of Art, 31: Sociological Theory and Arts and Health, 32: Unpacking the Creativity Advantage: Lessons from Psychology on the Benefits of the Arts, 33. Ethics in Arts and Health Practice, 34. Research and Evaluation in Arts and Health, Conclusion: Reflections on the arts and health as a field