Empirical development of a screening method for mental, social, and physical wellness in amateur and professional circus artists.

Abstract

There is limited information available to assist evidence-supported detection and referral of mental, social, and physical health issues affecting performance in circus artists. Therefore, this study examines mental, social, and physical health of artists in 2 circus settings (circus school, professional circus). The specific aims were to assess overall health and develop data-informed wellness screening methods in these populations, assisting referral guidelines for performance and health optimization. A comprehensive psychometrically validated battery of standardized measures was administered to 109 professional circus artists employed by Cirque du Soleil and students enrolled in the National Circus School. Compared with students, professionals reported significantly fewer problems with social isolation, fatigue, and factors that interfere with circus performance specific to shows/evaluations; they also reported greater satisfaction in their social roles and overall circus performance. Professionals also reported significantly less severe depression, and greater receipt of emotional and informational support compared with normative samples. Scores of students were similar to those of normative samples, although their scores measuring anxiety and fatigue were higher. There were no significant differences between professionals and students in perceived interferences during training, or circus-related problems with coaches and classmates/coworkers. For all participants, scores on measures of mental, social, and physical health were negatively associated with factors reported to interfere with circus performance. Participant responses to the measures were used to develop guidelines to facilitate detection of factors interfering with performance and to assist informed referrals.

The Effects of COVID-19 Lockdown 1.0 on Working Patterns, Income, and Wellbeing Among Performing Arts Professionals in the United Kingdom (April–June 2020)

“…This may have changed since these data were collected and subsequent research should uncover how performing arts professionals are managing their health and wellbeing as the pandemic continues, their coping strategies, and any barriers they experience in accessing support. Finally, the associations between physical activity and wellbeing identified in Study 1 are in line with previous research that suggests the importance of physical health and fitness for performing artists ( Cahalan and O’Sullivan, 2013 ; Donohue et al, 2018 ; Araújo et al, 2020 ) and in the general population during COVID-19 ( Wood et al, 2020 ). The opportunity to exercise more was identified as one of the opportunities afforded by lockdown in Study 2, though for other respondents exercise routines were prevented by lockdown and may continue to be affected by ongoing restrictions.…”

“…In terms of the factors associated with social and wellbeing outcomes, the importance of the timing of survey completion reflects the rapidly developing situation from April to mid-June 2020 and also suggests that a longitudinal follow-up is essential to trace how this unstable situation changes. The importance of physical activity and self-rated health identified here is in line with previous research demonstrating the importance of physical health in the performing arts ( Cahalan and O’Sullivan, 2013 ; Donohue et al, 2018 ; Araújo et al, 2020 ) and during COVID-19 ( Wood et al, 2020 ). Particularly striking is the implication of the possibility for change; although we do not know the causal relationship, it is interesting that exercise during lockdown was associated with positive outcomes on all measures, suggesting both the importance of this activity and the possible effectiveness of creating new habits.…”

A comprehensive examination of factors impacting collegiate athletes' utilization of psychological assessment and intervention services

“…We believe the implementation of cost‐effective mental health awareness programs that incorporate the internet (Gulliver et al, 2012a; van Raalte et al, 2015) and video‐based technologies (Kern et al, 2017) may be especially promising in this regard. Consistent with these efforts, formalized procedures have been disseminated to assist implementation of mental health screening procedures in NCAA athletes (Tomalski et al, 2019) and sport specific screens have been validated to accurately identify and predict appropriate mental healthcare referrals in collegiate (Donohue et al, 2019; Hussey et al, 2019) and professional athletes (Donohue et al, 2018b; Rice et al, 2019). This is important because the results suggest collegiate athletes who evidence relatively high mental health symptom severity may be particularly motivated to pursue psychological assessment; a finding that is consistent with previous studies involving collegiate students from the general population (American College Health Association, 2009; Blanco et al, 2008; Eisenberg et al, 2011).…”

Supporting Holistic Wellbeing for Performing Artists During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Recovery: Study Protocol

“…Informed by empirical work and applied intervention done within the circus context (e.g., Ménard and Hallé, 2014 ; Burtt and Lavers, 2017 ), CfD presents a continuum of competencies to be developed through and for circus artists’ optimal growth from novice to expert. Namely, it integrates four key attributes that have been shown to contribute to artists’ performance and wellbeing, including physical attributes ( Decker et al, 2019 ; Kriellaars et al, 2019 ; Barker et al, 2020 ), psychological attributes ( Shrier and Hallé, 2011 ; Filho et al, 2016 ; Ross and Shapiro, 2017 ; Donohue et al, 2018 ; van Rens and Filho, 2019 ), interpersonal and social attributes ( Filho et al, 2017 ; Filho and Rettig, 2018 ), and creative attributes ( Leroux and Batson, 2016 ). These four attributes will inform the learning domains of the intervention delivered to students to ensure that their holistic development and wellness are addressed.…”

“…Given the high proportion of circus students in the moderate category, the added stressors of the pandemic have the potential to shift them into the severe category, thus increasing their risk of mental distress. Furthermore, it was shown that circus students were less well adapted in their mental, social, and physical health than professionals circus artists ( Donohue et al, 2018 ). Therefore, interventions aimed at maintaining circus skills while also maintaining mental health are important for this population.…”