Towards a critical understanding of creativity and dementia: new directions for practice change

Free to be: Experiences of arts-based relational caring in a community living and thriving with dementia

“…Findings from our study capture experiences of relational caring and align with the literature that describes what is possible when a relational philosophy and ethic of care guides practice (Armstrong & Lowndes, 2018;, Dupuis et al, 2019Greenwood & Archdall, 2014;Mitchell et al, 2020Mitchell et al, , 2021. Also, our findings position the arts as meaningful mediums for relational caring (Basting, 2018;Bellass et al, 2019;Kontos et al, 2020), which support human flourishing Whitehouse et al, 2018). Methodologically, our study also addresses a gap in the arts-based literature by providing research about a collective experience of engaging in the arts that is grounded in a relational caring ethic.…”

“…The call for a new ethic of care for older adults and especially persons living with dementia is pervasive in the literature (Abma & Baur, 2014; Armstrong & Lowndes, 2018; Beach & Inui, 2006; Dupuis, McAiney, et al, 2016; Jonas-Simpson et al, 2012; Kontos et al, 2016; Kontos, Miller, & Kontos, 2017; Kontos et al, 2020; Mitchell, Dupuis, et al, 2020, 2021; Nolan et al, 2002, 2004). Nolan et al (2002, 2004) were among the first to emphasize the relational embeddedness of care and how person-centered approaches failed to recognize the interdependent and reciprocal nature of care in the dementia care context.…”

“…Several authors direct attention to the possibilities of the arts to break the stronghold of the medicalized approach to dementia care (Basting, 2018; Bellass et al, 2019; Burnside et al, 2017; Camic et al, 2018; Melhuish et al, 2017; Sauer et al, 2016; Swinnen & de Medeiros, 2018; Whitehouse et al, 2018) and using the arts as a way to address stigma and expose inhumane policies and practices that cause unnecessary suffering for people living with dementia and their care partners (Dupuis et al, 2011, 2015; Dupuis, Kontos, et al, 2016; Jonas-Simpson et al, 2012; Kontos et al, 2018; Mitchell, Dupuis, et al, 2011; Mitchell, Jonas-Simpson, et al, 2011). Despite these benefits, the arts for the most part are restricted to an instrumental application—as a therapeutic intervention to reduce neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with dementia and improve cognitive and physical health outcomes (For a critique see: Basting, 2009; deMedeiros & Basting, 2014; Dupuis et al, 2012; Kontos & Grigorovich, 2018; Kontos et al, 2020). There have been important challenges to this instrumental reductionism with a call to support and nurture creativity in persons living with dementia in everyday life (Bellass et al, 2019; Kontos & Grigorovich, 2018; Kontos et al, 2020).…”

“…Despite these benefits, the arts for the most part are restricted to an instrumental application—as a therapeutic intervention to reduce neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with dementia and improve cognitive and physical health outcomes (For a critique see: Basting, 2009; deMedeiros & Basting, 2014; Dupuis et al, 2012; Kontos & Grigorovich, 2018; Kontos et al, 2020). There have been important challenges to this instrumental reductionism with a call to support and nurture creativity in persons living with dementia in everyday life (Bellass et al, 2019; Kontos & Grigorovich, 2018; Kontos et al, 2020). Building on this broader approach to creativity, some scholars have advanced the notion of co-creativity to signal its relational and embodied nature (Bellass et al, 2019; Zeilig et al, 2018).…”

“…Building on this broader approach to creativity, some scholars have advanced the notion of co-creativity to signal its relational and embodied nature (Bellass et al, 2019; Zeilig et al, 2018). However, as Kontos et al (2020) have argued, “scholars who are advocating an embodied and relational approach to creativity are not fully engaging with this theoretical and empirical scholarship” (p. 3). Further, research to date that has explored the experiences of relational engagement with the arts has focused primarily on persons living with dementia leaving unexplored the relational experiences of others involved (e.g., family carers and staff).…”