Stronger together: learning from an interdisciplinary Dementia, Arts & Wellbeing Network (DA&WN)

There is increasing interest in the use of arts and creative activity to enhance dementia care (e.g. Beard, 2012; Cowl & Gaugler, 2014; Young, Camic & Tischler, 2016), and to bring together and support professionals and those who use services, see Creative Practice as Mutual Recovery (2018). Over the past decade a growing body of research has established this interdisciplinary field of study and there are strategic moves to embed the arts in healthcare more widely (All-Party Parliamentary Group for Arts, Health and Wellbeing, 2017). However, existing research and arts practice have often proceeded in parallel with practitioners criticised for not providing evidence of efficacy, and researchers berated for not working collaboratively with artists (Zeilig & West, in press) and not involving people living with dementia in the co-design of research

Capturing Progress in Creative Arts and Dementia

Karan Jutlla, Maria Parsons, Richard Coaten, Larry Gardiner and Dawn Brooker report on an event that explored some of the challenges of developing the creative arts in dementia care - and celebrated clever partnership working

Stronger together: learning from an interdisciplinary dementia, arts and well-being network (DA&WN)

ABSTRACT BackgroundThis paper reports on the learning from a 12-month interdisciplinary project (Dementia, Arts and Wellbeing Network– DA&WN) and its activities. These featured a series of four workshops on dance, visual art, theatre and music. The network was comprised of clinicians, academics, creative practitioners and people with lived experience of dementia and their carers. MethodsThe workshops were designed to draw out tacit knowledge about well-being in dementia through an action-based learn- ing and research approach. This included guided activities combined with reflective group discussions, visual documentation and baseline and follow-up questionnaires. ResultsOutcomes included new collaborations between group members, changes in creative practice for artists, and active and sustained involvement of people living with dementia and their carers in similar opportunities and participatory research. ConclusionThis participatory and inclusive workshop model should be considered to develop and enhance interdisciplinary activities in dementia care