Contributions of an artistic educational program for older people with early dementia: An exploratory qualitative study

Abstract

Objective: To describe a contemporary artistic educational program based on photographic cyanotype techniques and to present the results of the program carried out with older people with early dementia. We determined whether these people could participate in the program, their viewpoint about it, and what this program could contribute to their experience.Method: 21 people diagnosed with mild or moderate dementia participated in a series of artistic education workshops. While conducting the workshops, participant observation was carried out, and the participants' engagement was assessed. Upon completing the series, five focus groups were carried out with the participants with dementia, and another focus group with their professional caretakers.Results: we observed the participants' high level of commitment to the activity and their interest in learning new things. We also observed the participants' satisfaction during the creative process and with their results. The artistic activities not only reinforced the feelings of capacity of the participants with early dementia but also transmitted a positive image of them.Conclusions: Dementia was not an obstacle to participate in the program, which was an opportunity for creativity, learning, enjoyment, and communication of people with dementia. In the authors' opinion, facilitating access to art and artistic education to people with early dementia can contribute to enforcing their rights and to improving the care system. Keywords: early dementia; creativity; artistic education; art; psychosocial intervention 4 Contributions of an Artistic Educational Program for Older People with Early Dementia: An Exploratory Qualitative StudyArticle 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights acknowledges that every person has the right to take part freely in the cultural life of the community and to enjoy the arts. However, in practice, dementia can imply a considerable reduction of the opportunities to make effective use of this right because it has been shown to be a factor that is negatively related to people's participation in cultural and artistic activities.(Paillard-Borg, Wang, Winblad, & Fratiglioni, 2009). And this occurs despite the fact that diverse studies have revealed a positive relation between participation in this kind of activities and health and well-being throughout the ageing processes (Cohen, 2009;Cohen et al., 2006;Fisher & Specht, 1999;Wikström, 2002).Limiting the cultural opportunities of people with early dementia is unjustified, because this pathology does not imply any obstacle to art-related behaviors. Besides the therapeutic settings of art therapy or occupational therapy, there are few investigations about art-related activities in people with dementia who have no artistic trajectory prior to their disease. However, the few documented experiences agree that dementia itself is not an obstacle for cultural artistic consumption such as visits to art galleries or museums (MacPherson, Bird, Anderson, Davis, & Blair, 2009;Ziesel, 2009). Likewise,...

The impact of a visual arts program on quality of life, communication, and well-being of people living with dementia: a mixed-methods longitudinal investigation

“…It builds on studies delivered in a gallery setting for people with mild to moderate dementia (e.g. Camic et al, 2014), and people with mild to severe dementia (MacPherson et al, 2009), and in a care-setting for people with mild to moderate dementia (Ullán et al, 2012). However, for the whole sample, scores on the HCS did not change from baseline to time 2, but worsened between baseline and time 3.…”

“…Staff reported that some residents, normally withdrawn, were very animated and talkative on the way back from the gallery. Ullán et al (2012) undertook an in-depth qualitative exploration of the process and impact of an artviewing and art-making activity in a day-care setting (n = 21 people with mild to moderate dementia). They found the participants were interested in learning new things, showing improved confidence in their own skills, and capabilities.…”

Las artes visuales en personas con demencia: revisión sistemática

“…En los estudios cualitativos se han utilizado para la recogida de datos la observación participante (Ullán et al, 2013); los grupos focales con pacientes, cuidadores y profesionales (MacPherson et al, 2009;A. M. Ullán et al, 2013); y el análisis de contenidos de entrevistas y de grabaciones de audio Camic et al, 2014;Eekelaar et al, 2012;Young et al, 2015).…”

“…Las técnicas utilizadas fueron variadas, tales como el dibujo con pinturas pastel o acuarelas, el modelado con arcilla, el collage (Hattori et al, 2011;Meguro et al, 2009;Rankin et al, 2007;Stallings, 2010;Witkoski & Fagundes Chaves, 2007) o la cianotipia (Ullán et al, 2013). Halpern & O'Connor (2013), para analizar las preferencias estéticas, utilizaron tarjetas con reproducciones de pinturas representativas, casi representativas y abstractas.…”

“…Finalmente, también en el contexto de un entorno residencial, Ullán et al (2013) desarrollan un programa de cinco talleres organizados en dos fases: (1) presentación de material audiovisual a los participantes preparado para ver y comentar con ellos obras de diferentes artistas, y (2) la realización por los participantes de una obra personal con cianotipia. Una vez que el programa había comenzado a desarrollarse, al material audiovisual que se presentó a los participantes en la primera fase de los talleres se incorporaron fotografías, tanto de las obras realizadas por los participantes como de los procesos seguidos en su realización.…”