CREATOR Study: Agreeing meaningful changes in Arts Therapies
Research type
Research Study
Full title
CREATOR Study: CREating conditions to co-shape meaningful personalised measures in the Arts Therapies in statutory community mental health services: arts-based transformational actiOn Research
IRAS ID
332343
Contact name
Emma Maclean
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen Margaret University
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 9 months, 31 days
Research summary
Individuals who take part in the arts therapies within statutory community mental health services are often asked to fill out questionnaires at the beginning and then again at the end of art or music therapy. These questionnaires help to understand whether the sessions are helping them or not and allow comparisons with other types of therapies offered. Using repeated questions, which focus on symptoms, risks, and/or well-being may limit opportunities to really understand the ongoing changes that can happen whilst attending the arts therapies. The CREATOR study aims to explore, “what needs to be in place to enable a therapist and person attending to agree and review meaningful changes that could be brought about by taking part in art or music therapy?”
The study is part of an educational qualification sponsored by NHS Lothian Research Futures in partnership with QMU. It will invite persons who have attended, facilitated, managed, or referred to the arts therapies to become co-researchers. Being a co-researcher is about making meanings together, sharing power and allowing different voices to be heard. Co-researchers will attend up to two workshops in community locations across Lothian between January and August 2024. Using arts-based transformational action research the first workshop will guide co-researchers in making images and music in response to the question. Actions agreed will be shared with Arts Therapists who will be invited to try them out in practice. The workshop will then be repeated in different locations to get a wide range of responses. The second workshop is optional. It will bring co-researchers together to agree outputs, including guidelines or frameworks, and agree how to share them. Possible benefits might be improving ongoing experiences of the Arts Therapies and developing a way to personalise measures that strengthens links between statutory and other community supports.
REC name
East of Scotland Research Ethics Service REC 2
REC reference
23/ES/0036
Date of REC Opinion
25 Oct 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion