Making a difference

The impact of the arts on mental health

The research and evidence supporting the power of the arts to transform health and wellbeing is overwhelming and it is very important to us at Arts and Minds that we base our programmes and practice on good research.

We are continuously developing our evaluation framework to enable us to learn from our participants (and other stakeholders), understand how we can do better and demonstrate the impact of our creative programmes.

Below you will find a selection of research demonstrating the impact of the arts on health and wellbeing.

Research

Please click on the links below to access the research:

Improving Access to the Arts for Mental Health (MARCH Network, 2021)

Subjective experiences of participatory arts engagement of healthy older people and explorations of creative ageing (Bradfield, 2021)

What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being? A scoping review (World Health Organization, 2019)

Older and wiser? Creative ageing in the UK 2010-2019 (Gordon-Nesbitt, 2019)

Creative Health: The Arts for Health and Wellbeing (All Party Parliamentary Group for Arts, Health and Wellbeing, 2017)

Arts and Minds research

Mental health and resilience: Arts on Prescription for children and young people in a school setting (Efstathopoulou & Bungay, 2021)

Evidence Dossier: The Value of Arts on Prescription Programmes for the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Individuals and Communities (Hamilton et al, 2015)