The Need for Robust Critique of Arts and Health Research: Young People, Art Therapy and Mental Health

Abstract

We describe work in progress to conduct a systematic review of research on effects of arts-based programs for mental health in young people. We are at the stage of searching for relevant studies through major databases and screening extant systematic reviews for additional research which meet our inclusion criteria. At this stage, however, concerns have arisen regarding both the quality of existing primary studies and of recently published systematic reviews in this area of arts and health. As a case in point, in this paper we focus on one research report on art therapy with adolescent girls and its inclusion in three systematic reviews. We demonstrate that the reviews fail to undertake a robust critique of the Bazargan and Pakdaman paper and that the paper and reviews are flawed. Drawing on recent criticisms of systematic reviewing, we consider the value of proceeding with our systematic review as initially planned.

Creativity in lockdown: Understanding how music and the arts supported mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic by age group

“…Additionally, due to the multifaceted and subjective nature of engagement with ACAs, there are some aspects of this engagement that a general survey will undoubtedly be unable to cover in detail. The inclusion of other methodological approaches and paradigms—such as qualitative ethnographic research and practice-based research—are essential to the research landscape of arts and health and should be encouraged in the future ( Clift et al, 2021 ; Grebosz-Haring et al, 2022 ). We also note that our comparison of the prevalence of ACAs by various age groups was based solely on the Mean of the Rank score, which does not constitute an inferential analysis.…”

Music‐based interventions in community settings: Navigating the tension between rigor and ecological validity

“…Recently, weighty concerns regarding assumptions and biases implicit in arts‐for‐health research, including a need for robust critique and higher rigor, have been proposed 21 . Although the myriad benefits of arts interventions for wellbeing and health are not disputed, the concern lies with a lack of transparency, frequent reporting errors, and ill‐defined research designs that can preclude the interpretation of studies that have been included in several systematic reviews 22 .…”

“…Recently, weighty concerns regarding assumptions and biases implicit in arts‐for‐health research, including a need for robust critique and higher rigor, have been proposed. 21 Although the myriad benefits of arts interventions for wellbeing and health are not disputed, the concern lies with a lack of transparency, frequent reporting errors, and ill‐defined research designs that can preclude the interpretation of studies that have been included in several systematic reviews. 22 While acknowledging this concern, we, however, do not see this as an inherent shortfall of community‐based interventions and note that such criticisms can be used to implement practices to enhance the validity and reliability of these trials.…”

The need for robust critique of arts and health research: Dance‐movement therapy, girls, and depression

“…A protocol 33 was developed for a systematic review of controlled studies on creative arts interventions for children and young people experiencing challenges to their mental health. Seven databases were systematically searched, and two members of the team (K.G.-H. and S.C.) independently screened abstracts for relevance.…”

“…This RCT was identified through our search strategy for the systematic review referred to above. 33 A nonevaluative summary of the Jeong et al RCT 32 will be followed by a careful analysis of the design and methods of the study, the procedures for assessing the participants, the description of the intervention and the quality of the analysis and reporting of findings, and the credibility of conclusions drawn. This will be guided by standards for the conduct and reporting of trials that were in place prior to the date of the study, 10 as well as the continued development of these standards.…”