Office for National Statistics Consultation on Well-Being...
by Free Software on Nov.22, 2009, under
The event was chaired by Carole Truman, Professor of Health and Community Studies at Bolton University, and an opening address on the ONS consultation process was given by Stephen Hicks, Assistant Deputy Director of the Measuring National Wellbeing programme, Office for National Statistics.
Whilst I’ll make brief reference to them, I can’t aim to cover all the speakers’ contributions here, but want to give a taste of what I crammed into my far-too-brief 5 minute overview; some of the questions raised and some thoughts that didn’t have time to be aired.
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| An exhausted Clive tries in vain to keep his fellow panellists riveted. |
‘Well-being is most usefully thought of as the dynamic process that gives people a sense of how their lives are going, through the interaction between their circumstances, activities and psychological resources or ‘mental capital.’1
Mike talked about faith communities as being ‘gold-mines’ of resources for community well-being; a point I’d agree with, but in my opinion he over-egged the point that well-being and spirituality are inseparable and can only be achieved through a belief in God. For me his comments about the ‘myth of the happy poor’ could warrant a full debate in itself, particularly when one considers the doctrine of some organised religion that places an emphasis on suffering in this life to gain eternal salvation. Rachel gave a full and rounded picture of the very real impact of the work of youth work and sporting activity on the well-being on children and young people as an investment in tomorrow’s citizens.
For my part, I used a number of stories in an attempt to paint a picture of how the arts/cultural engagement can impact on individuals and communities, by opening up new opportunities and offering a means of transformation. Here I’ll make reference to the points I made, and some I didn’t have opportunity to expand on.
Because this was a public event, I spelt out some clear messages: that this agenda went beyond murals on hospital corridors and that I was not a therapist, but grew as an artist within a tradition of community and participatory arts.
Making sense of this individual story in relationship to wider community impact, I shared research findings from the Invest to Save: Arts in Health Project2 which illustrated not only the reduction in symptoms of ill-health, depression and anxiety in the participants of robust arts/health projects; but the increased well-being, evidenced through environmental mastery, autonomy and social connectedness. In fact, much of what are commonly referred to as the 5 Ways to Well-being3.
I discussed the range of questionnaires used, but emphasised the importance of story in making wider sense of this work and talked briefly about the importance of the arts/health community getting better at telling a richer story, of how we create value. I wanted to stress the importance of both longitudinal studies in the field, as well as embracing some of the ideas posited by John Knell and Matthew Taylor around Contingent Value and Social Return on Investment4; a point I later laboured with Stephen, and one that should be taken seriously by the ONS and the coalition government. These are areas that I would be keen to explore with partners in the field.
I spent some time equating the reported rise in anti-depressant prescribing in England over the last four years by over 40%, with consumerism and the pathologising of our day-to-day anxieties and worries, in our bid to be ‘happy’, and as Pascal Bruckner observes, “unhappiness is not only unhappiness, it is worse yet, a failure to be happy.'5
Previous editor of the BMJ, Richard Smith comments, ‘More and more of life’s inevitable processes and difficulties—birth, sexuality, ageing, unhappiness, tiredness, and loneliness —are being medicalised, and we are growing the budget of health care to tackle them. But medicine cannot solve these problems, and…I believe…that the humanities can help us with a problem as pressing as that of attitudes to death (and) climate change. Scientists have long identified the problem, but we have failed to act effectively– largely, I believe, through our evolutionary flaws of selfishness and lack of imagination.’7
I did find time to describe yet another story of people whose lives had been turned around through organizations like START in Salford8, that not only give people a sense of community and pride, but through challenging art experiences give opportunity make informed choices and flourish.
If time had allowed, I would share some of the remarkable work that I’m engaged in with Derbyshire Community Health Services, where we have evidenced astounding changes in the lives of people affected by dementia; where again, engaged in challenging art activity and not soporific reminiscence, we have evidence sentience in a number of people, who’s prognosis is in itself, the biggest discriminator. On the basis of this early work, we are embarking on an action research process to better understand this remarkable affect of the arts. And this work is not about finding a magic-bullet cure, but is focused on the quality of our existence in our later years.
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| Darren Browett |
It seems that the backlash to current NHS reforms has encouraged the coalition government to enter a ‘listening exercise’, and I hope that the arts are seen as a valuable way of exploring issues around health, education and well-being. We know that the arts contribute hugely to the UK economy and according to a DCMS report in 2008 the creative industries employ 2 million people in Britain and contribute £60 billion to the economy each year, 7.3 percent of UK GDP.9
Sceptics of the arts/health agenda still call for a cold measurement of impact, holding up the Randomised Controlled Trial as the ‘gold standard’. Stephen and the panel seemed to agree that measuring well-being is far more subtle than this, and I illustrated how the figures can be manipulated, citing an article in the BMJ that showed drugs manufacturer Pfizer, chose to hold back back 74% of patient data from the clinical trials of the antidepressant Reboxetine, that showed that it is, ‘overall an ineffective and potentially harming antidepressant’.10 As Jonah Lehrer in Proust was a Neuroscientist quips, ‘…measurement is always imperfect, and explanations are easy to invent.’11
I’m not going to suggest that it’s wrong to attempt to measure well-being, or indeed the way that the arts may, or may not, contribute to this agenda. I’d go so far to say that statistics, and what we can garner from mass observations, are incredibly useful to society and knowledge. What I’d like to do though, is raise the level of this debate and the profile of our work. We observe that the arts connect people; encourage activity, learning and imagination, and through active engagement with high quality arts experiences, there is the potential to impact on public good and civic society.
The participatory arts offer us potential to flourish as humans and I urge us all to think less about illness, and disease and more about salutogenesis; the focusing on the factors that create health and well-being. I suggest to you that the arts offer us all, a way of making sense of the world, communicating our aspirations and facilitating change.
Please feed your comments into the Office for National Statistics, Measurement of National Well-Being @ http://www.ons.gov.uk/well-being
1. www.neweconomics.org/publications/measuring-well-being-in-policy
2. www.miriad.mmu.ac.uk/investtosave
3. www.neweconomics.org/projects/five-ways-well-being
4. www.thersa.org/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/384482/RSA-Pamphlets-Arts_Funding_Austerity_BigSociety.pdf
5. Perpertual Euphoria: On The Duty To Be Happy, By Pascal Bruckner
6. www.who.int/mental_health/management/depression/definition/en/
7. http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2010/12/30/richard-smith-medicines-need-for-the-humanities
8. http://www.startmc.org.uk
9.http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.culture.gov.uk/Reference_library/Publications/archive_2008/cepPub-new-talents.htm
10. http://www.bmj.com/content/341/bmj.c4942.full
11. http://www.jonahlehrer.com
News, Views and Opportunities...
by Free Software on Nov.22, 2009, under
Health Innovation Challenge Fund (UK)
The Department of Health and the Wellcome Trust are inviting proposals from organisations and research groups seeking to draw on funding from the Health Innovation Challenge Fund to further the development of innovative healthcare products, technologies and interventions, and to facilitate their development for the benefit of patients in the NHS and beyond. The theme for this funding round is Smart Surgery: Innovative technologies or interventions to reduce, replace or refine invasive surgical procedures. Up to £10 million is available to organisations such as NHS organisations (including NHS Trusts and NHS Foundation Trusts), and equivalent UK authorities; universities, and research institutes and not-for profit organisations; start-up companies founded to capture and develop intellectual property of relevance to healthcare; and biotechnology, pharmaceutical, bioinformatics, engineering or other companies; etc that will deliver ‘Smart Surgery’ solutions that will translate into safe and cost-effective practice into the NHS. The deadline for submitting preliminary applications is 5pm on the 28th April 2011. For more information visit: http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Funding/Technology-transfer/Awards/Health-Innovation-Challenge-Fund/index.htm Fund/index.htm
The Arts for Health service are looking to run two eight week creative courses. The courses run weekly for two hour sessions. The artists will need to have experience of working with adults suffering with mental health difficulties. The artist would work with the Arts for Health group to produce work which would then be exhibited as part of the Blackpool Culture shop programme, whereby work is displayed in an empty shop in Blackpool. The first course would be April- June 2011 and second course to be June-August 2011. Details at: http://www.artsjobs.org.uk/index.phpid=25&ne_source=dailyjobs&ne_post_id=59238
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| Arthur and Martha |
An Interesting Project to Watch
Arthur and Martha engagement project with older people in St.Helens.
Over the course of this week the Arthur and Martha are working in diverse settings such as the local health centre, library and bingo group... These initial pilot taster sessions will shape how we move forward from this period and develop the activity. As well as delivering the project Arthur and Martha will be blogging about the work and I thought you would be interested in being kept up to date on how the project is progressing.
The link to the blog can be found here:
http://arthur-and-martha.blogspot.com/2011/04/comfort-smell-waft.html
Knowledge Lives Everywhere
Arts and Health week 2 - 8 June 2011
Do you work with arts and health? Are you an individual or an organisation with something to contribute to the new FACT exhibition Knowledge Lives Everywhere? Throughout this exhibition there are themed weeks being held in Gallery 2, programmed by FACT collaborators and guests. We would like to hear from you if you work within arts and health and have a film you would like to screen (or suggest a topical film), give a talk, do a performance or wish to have a change of scene and hold a meeting in the space! Do you have any burning issues surrounding arts and health you wish to communicate to the world via a webcast? We will try and accommodate your content and ideas. Please use this opportunity to put the spotlight on arts and health during an exciting exhibition which celebrates all things creative and collaborative! We look forward to hearing from you. If you are interested in taking part please contact Angy or Kat on 0151 707 4416 or waiting@fact.co.uk
http://www.fact.co.uk/about/exhibitions/2011/knowledge-lives-everywhere
Tuesday 17th May 2011
Floral Pavilion, New Brighton, Wirral
“Get Into Reading helps patients suffering from depression in terms of: their social well-being, by increasing personal confidence and reducing social isolation; their mental well-being, by improving powers of concentration and fostering an interest in new learning or new ways of understanding; their emotional and psychological well-being, by increasing self-awareness and enhancing the ability to articulate profound issues of self and being.”
‘Therapeutic Benefits of Reading in Relation to Depression’, Billington et al., 2011
Further details at http://www.thereader.co.uk/
10 – 11 September 2011, Glasgow
The impact and application of music to improve mental, physical and social wellbeing has many advocates and well-established initiatives demonstrating positive impact. Making Music will be looking at programmes taking place across the UK and the opportunities these create for voluntary music. http://www.makingmusic.org.uk/events/conference
Arts in Health – a new prognosis
In this article, our friend and colleague Mike White looks at how the arts community can adapt and respond to changes in healthcare provision and organisation. In recent years the arts in health field has acquired the expertise to address a wide spectrum of medical, health and social care issues. It has the resilience and resourcefulness to weather the impending health service reforms in an era of austerity. But it will need to adapt conceptually and in delivery to healthcare environments in which patient choice, GP commissioning power and a new public health workforce are the drivers of change.
http://ixia-info.com/new-writing/arts-in-health-%E2%80%93-a-new-prognosis-mike-white
