Arts-in-hospitals programmes

Domain VIII · Creative & expressive arts therapies

What it is

This is an arts-in-health programme, not psychotherapy. Arts-in-hospitals programmes bring professional artists, performers, writers and trained volunteers into wards, clinics and public spaces to offer participatory arts at the bedside and in workshops, performances, residencies and visual…

Format

• A programme, not a course of treatment. It runs on two time-scales: programme cycle (months to years) and encounter (one visit).
• Governance and strategy. Goal: a sanctioned programme with an accountable lead, board or steering group, funding and links to trust priorities. NAHN organises its guidance under governance, strategy, evaluation, collection management, art and environment, and participatory arts; York's programme…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Version followed: ward-level procedures from the UF Health Shands Arts in Medicine (AIM) Volunteer Handbook (current online edition, undated, posted 2023); ethics and scope from the NOAH Code of Ethics and Standards for Arts in Health Professionals (Version 1, 2018) and its 2023 edition principles; partnership and support principles from Participatory Arts Practice in Healthcare Contexts: Guidelines for Good…
• This is an arts-in-health programme, not psychotherapy. Arts-in-hospitals programmes bring professional artists, performers, writers and trained volunteers into wards, clinics and public spaces to offer participatory arts at the bedside and in workshops, performances, residencies and visual environments for patients, families and staff. The artists are not therapists: NOAH states its standards are not intended for…
• Where the psychotherapist fits: you will mostly (a) refer a client or inpatient into the programme, (b) work alongside it on a ward or unit, (c) help decide when someone needs arts therapy or psychological care instead, and (d) sometimes support or supervise artists. If you yourself want to use art-making as treatment, that is arts therapy, which in the UK is a regulated profession: "art therapist", "music…

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Evidence status, as sources give it: the WHO Regional Office for Europe scoping review (Fancourt and Finn, 2019, Health Evidence Network synthesis report 67) mapped over 900 publications, including about 200 reviews covering over 3,000 further studies, and concluded the arts have "a major role" in…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• using the programme to fill a gap in psychological provision.
• artists keeping a disclosure to themselves to protect rapport.
• skilled artists sent straight onto wards because of staffing pressure.
• managers using sessions as a substitute for addressing workload or moral injury.
• passive compliance in older or very ill patients; family consenting over a patient who is objecting.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.