Creating connections to life during life-threatening illness: Creative activity experienced by elderly people and occupational therapists (original) (raw)
Related papers
2017
Life-threatening illness can be sufficiently traumatic to shatter one‘s beliefs about self, others, and the world. This disruption can trigger an instinctive search for meaning. Research highlights that how individuals respond post-adversity can make the difference between experiencing posttraumatic stress or posttraumatic growth (PTG) and existential growth (EG). This paper presents the findings of a pilot study situated in a tertiary care cancer centre and details the impact of creative arts therapy on the experiences of individuals living through breast cancer. Ten women were interviewed about their experiences making art, many for the first time. Emergent themes included: the significant benefits of art-making on their sense of self-efficacy; the emotionally enhancing nature of art-making; the power of their artwork to trigger insights (including subthemes of EG, PTG) or in communicating their experiences to loved ones; and how art-making changed their worldview and life philoso...
Arts & Health, 2016
Background: Caring for a family member with dementia is stressful. This study explores carers' experiences of leisure-based art-making, and its contribution to psychological well-being. Method: This study interviewed six women (>60 years old) with lengthy experience of caring for a relative with dementia. All engaged regularly in art-making. Findings were inferred through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Results: Participation in art-making promoted positive identity, and resilience for care-giving. It offered temporary respite from care-giving demands, helping participants maintain contact with the richness of the external world, and freedom from confinement. Art-making facilitated meaningful connections with others, including the person with dementia, and enabled positive feedback. Participants whose loved ones had recently died or moved to residential care, processed, in oblique, possibly symbolic ways, the end of their intense involvement in care-giving. Conclusions: The findings suggest that meaningful creative leisure occupations may help to protect the psychological well-being of care-givers, promoting resilience.
Textile Art Promoting Well‐being in Long‐term Illness: Some General and Specific Influences
Journal of Occupational Science, 2004
The paper reviews previous research into the meanings of textile art-making for people living with long-term illness. Qualitative accounts of the creative process suggest that textile art-making is a multi-dimensional experience. Some practitioners regard textile artwork as a means of coping with discomfort and other symptoms. For a minority, it enables expressions of anxiety and feelings about loss. Nevertheless, participants place more emphasis on the role of textile art-making in rebuilding a satisfactory identity, and restoring autonomy and quality to life. It fills occupational voids following early retirement, and enables social contacts. Textile artwork also stimulates learning and personal development. It remains possible that any creative occupation delivers such benefits. The paper analyses qualitative accounts from seven participants to identify whether textile art-making has any distinctive experiential qualities. As a creative occupation, it seems to be quite distinctive in being readily accessible even to those who do not consider themselves as artistic. Modern textile art embraces diverse techniques and forms, and practitioners' choice and autonomy are enhanced by having several different projects in process at once. It accepts the use of assistive technology, thereby enabling people with a variety of physical impairments to produce 'mainstream' art. It draws upon rich social traditions, facilitating social contact. Many forms of textile art-making are highly time-consuming, fostering a future orientation, and the creative process is often socially visible within the home, with positive consequences for self-image. This study is exploratory. Further enquiry into the distinctive influences of different creative occupations upon well-being is recommended.
Creativity Research Journal, 2004
This qualitative study explored the origins of interest in textile arts among a group of women living with long-term health problems. The part that illness played in motivating engagement in creative arts was of particular concern. Twenty four women were interviewed, aged between 29-72 years. Most were hobbyists and but the sample included some publicly acclaimed textile artists. A minority had engaged in art continuously since their earlier years. Most of the women had discovered (or rediscovered) textile arts, in middle and later life. Several factors facilitated this. The narratives indicated that the women's pre-existing resilient personality as well as extensive support structures may have encouraged a reflective attitude and a problemsolving approach to living with illness. The experience of biographical disruption, stemming from the crisis of illness, dissatisfaction with unproductive time and a growing need for self-fulfilment, appeared to create a search for a meaningful occupation. The discovery of textile art as a meaningful occupation (as opposed to other ways of living with illness) appeared to be encouraged by early role models, enjoyment of art at school, the discovery that adult personal and professional interests could be expressed through artwork, and chance events. Textile art at school appeared to provide a form of 'cultural capital' for these women, who returned to this art medium and the skills learned earlier, when crisis occurred. The findings indicate that a negative event such as illness may have life-enhancing effects. Rehabilitation specialists might focus more on the arts as a resource for adults living with illness.
Public Health, 2021
Objectives: This paper presents the findings of a pilot study situated in a tertiary care cancer centre and examines the impact of an art therapy group on the experiences of women living through breast cancer. Study design: A qualitative cross-case comparative case study design was used. Methods: Ten women were interviewed about their experiences making art, many for the first time. Interviews were transcribed and analysed, along with the participants' artist statements. Findings: Categories include: the significant benefits of art therapy on their sense of selfefficacy; the emotionally enhancing nature of making art for the first time; the power of their artwork to trigger insights about themselves (including subcategories of self-actualization, existential growth, and posttraumatic growth) or in communicating their experiences to loved ones; and how making art changed their worldview and life philosophies, creating doorways of possibilities. Conclusion: This study suggests that art therapy provides a safe context to reflect on profound personal changes and to re-story losses following adversity through creative practices as a dimension of care.
Creativity Research Journal, 2003
This qualitative study explored the origins of interest in textile arts among a group of women living with long-term health problems. The part that illness played in motivating engagement in creative arts was of particular concern. Twenty four women were interviewed, aged between 29-72 years. Most were hobbyists and but the sample included some publicly acclaimed textile artists. A minority had engaged in art continuously since their earlier years. Most of the women had discovered (or rediscovered) textile arts, in middle and later life. Several factors facilitated this. The narratives indicated that the women's pre-existing resilient personality as well as extensive support structures may have encouraged a reflective attitude and a problemsolving approach to living with illness. The experience of biographical disruption, stemming from the crisis of illness, dissatisfaction with unproductive time and a growing need for self-fulfilment, appeared to create a search for a meaningful occupation. The discovery of textile art as a meaningful occupation (as opposed to other ways of living with illness) appeared to be encouraged by early role models, enjoyment of art at school, the discovery that adult personal and professional interests could be expressed through artwork, and chance events. Textile art at school appeared to provide a form of 'cultural capital' for these women, who returned to this art medium and the skills learned earlier, when crisis occurred. The findings indicate that a negative event such as illness may have life-enhancing effects. Rehabilitation specialists might focus more on the arts as a resource for adults living with illness.