How do arts activities engage the individual living with dementia?
Research type
Research Study
Full title
How do arts activities positively engage the individual living with dementia in a residential care setting?
IRAS ID
228491
Contact name
Amy Veale
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Worcester
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 26 days
Research summary
This study will attempt to develop a theory of arts activity engagement for the individual living with dementia in a care home setting.
Recent years have seen an increased interest in the use of the arts as a way to provide meaningful engagement for people with dementia in care homes. Despite an increase in arts based practices, an understanding of the social processes by which arts activities engage people with dementia is currently lacking. A well-developed,substantive theory of arts engagement is yet to emerge yet this could provide a framework for practitioners and researchers who seek to deliver and evaluate impactful arts activities.
To understand and explain the process of arts activity engagement, I am currently undertaking interviews with artists, care staff and family to develop an understanding of how we engage the individual, and how we might need to tailor our approach to an individual. However observations of these activities are also needed as people can claim to do one thing when in reality they are doing something else, or they might not always be able to articulate the subtleties of their interactions and what is going on. By focusing on a particular session, the actions and interactions that take place, and the engagement of participants during the session can be explored in greater depth.
A further reason for the use of observations in this study is the desire to include people with more advanced dementia in data collection. Observations will focus on the individuals who have taken part in a session. Many of these individuals are unlikely to be able take part in in-depth interviews, so by conducting observations we seek to include them even when they cannot be asked directly about their thoughts and feelings.
REC name
Social Care REC
REC reference
17/IEC08/0048
Date of REC Opinion
8 Dec 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion