We cannot be more excited for the National Day of Arts in Care Homes! Art and creativity is absolutely crucial to benefiting older adults’ mental wellbeing, identity, cognition, communication, self-esteem, enjoyment and more.
For example, although older adults have a heightened susceptibility to social isolation and loneliness (Windle et al., 2011), creativity and art for care home residents can enrich existing relationships and enable residents to foster new ones (Dadswell et al., 2020). This is because the shared experience of art facilitates interaction and communication whilst promoting reciprocity. In addition, the arts can improve resilience in those with dementia through creative expression, increased communication, improved self-esteem, and influenced relationships with carers and family members (Newman et al., 2018). The arts can also boost residents wellbeing and quality of life (Curtis et al., 2018; Keating et al., 2018) and serve as an effective component of care staff training (Windle et al., 2019; Windle et al., 2020).
The National Activity Providers Association’s week-long event, will run from the 19th of September to the 24th of September and there are plenty of arts activities to get involved in! It is an amazing opportunity to learn about how a diverse range of arts can be incorporated into care home activities.
Events so far include an immersive film reminiscence session from Digital Voice for Communities, a sing-along led by the Forget-Me-Not chorus, and of course Boogie to the Beat with The Blair Academy! We will be grooving through a super fun Hip Hop x Bollywood dance routine choreographed by our very own teachers Charlie and Sana! We will be releasing the video of this routine in September so that you can learn the steps, and we will come together at the event to groove it out together! During the session, people can experience the fun and also learn about how they can introduce dance to their settings.
You can register for the event here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-blair-academy-boogie-to-that-beat-tickets-387483492557?aff=odcleoeventsincollection
References
Curtis, A., Gibson, L., O’Brien, M., & Roe, B. (2018). Systematic review of the impact of arts for health activities on health, wellbeing and quality of life of older people living in care homes. Dementia, 17(6), 645-669.
Dadswell, A., Bungay, H., Wilson, C., & Munn-Giddings, C. (2020). The impact of participatory arts in promoting social relationships for older people within care homes. Perspectives in public health, 140(5), 286-293.
Keating, F., Cole, L., & Grant, R. (2020). An evaluation of group reminiscence arts sessions for people with dementia living in care homes. Dementia, 19(3), 805-821.
Windle, K., Francis, J., & Coomber, C. (2011). Preventing loneliness and social isolation: interventions and outcomes (pp. 1-16). London: Social Care Institute for Excellence.
Windle, G., Algar-Skaife, K., Caulfield, M., Pickering-Jones, L., Killick, J., Zeilig, H., & Tischler, V. (2020). Enhancing communication between dementia care staff and their residents: an arts-inspired intervention. Aging & mental health, 24(8), 1306-1315.
Windle, G., Caulfield, M., Woods, B., & Joling, K. (2020). How can the arts influence the attitudes of dementia caregivers? A mixed-methods longitudinal investigation. The Gerontologist, 60(6), 1103-1114.
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