1. scientific contextualization

1.1 What is Arts and/for/in/within Health?

Attempt at a definition

Edith Wolf Perez 

Although there is no fundamental distinction in the literature between arts and/for/with health, we make the following distinction in this publication. "Arts and Health" refers to artistic and cultural activities in the context of health and well-being. "Arts for Health" refers to non-therapeutic interventions that focus on the artistic process and are usually led by professional artists, and is considered a further development of the concept of community arts. We use the English terms because Arts and Health practice is a global movement. Arts therapies are usually clinical psychotherapeutic treatments that involve artistic activities led by trained therapists. This distinction is necessary due to the special legal status of music therapy in Austria.

1.2 Arts and Health: The evidence base according to the WHO

A summary

Edith Wolf Perez, Katherine Dedich 

In 2019, the European Office of the World Health Organization (WHO) published the 67th edition of the synthesis report of its Health Evidence Network: In "What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and wellbeing. A scoping review", the authors Daisy Fancourt and Saoirse Finn examine 900 publications in which a total of 3,000 studies were presented. In order to do justice to the topic, they chose an inter- and transdisciplinary approach and examined studies from the fields of medicine, neuroscience, psychology and sociology. They combined quantitative meta-analyses, qualitative meta-syntheses and individual studies. The WHO report currently provides us with the most comprehensive overview of research on the impact of the arts in relation to health and well-being. Examples of good practice relate to projects promoting social cohesion and the treatment of dementia.

1.3 "Arts and Health" evaluations

Robust study situation?

Andrew McWilliams, Edith Wolf Perez 

There is no standardized design in the impact research of arts and health interventions, but rather a wealth of methods and approaches. In addition to scientific strategies from medicine, psychology or sociology, which examine artistic processes with regard to their effect on the participants, cultural-historical and art-immanent factors should also be taken into account. An interdisciplinary approach and a corresponding composition of the team are desirable. When developing scientific evidence for the effect of clowning on health, the RED NOSES clown doctors use a Framework of Change as a basis for planning evaluations.