Mental health recovery and arts engagement
| Date | 14 May 2018 |
| Published date | 14 May 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JMHTEP-08-2017-0048 |
| Pages | 157-166 |
| Author | Anita Jensen |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Mental health,Mental health education |
Mental health recovery and arts
engagement
Anita Jensen
Abstract
Purpose –Arts and cultural activities have been illustrated to be beneficial for mental health service users.
The purpose of this paper is to explore the benefits of museum visits and engage in artsactivities for mental
health service users.
Design/methodology/approach –Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 mental health
service users in Denmark. A thematic approach was used to analyse the data and theoretical lens of
sociological theories of institutional logics was employed to explore the findings.
Findings –These benefits are perceived to include empowerment and meaning in life, which are two of the
core principles of recovery; arts engagement can, therefore, be a useful tool in recovery. The findings also
show that the experience of visiting a museum was not always positive and depended upon the interaction
with the museum educators.
Originality/value –The service users identified arts engagement as creating meaning in life and
empowerment, which are two element in the conceptual framework, CHIME (an acronym for:
Connectedness, Hope and optimism, Identity, Meaning in life and Empowerment), that describes the
human process of recovery. The findings also highlighted that if museums want to engage positively with
people with mental health problems and contribute to their recovery then the training of staff and the
improvement of institutional approaches to support working with vulnerable people are essential.
Keywords Mental health, Recovery, Arts and health, Arts engagement, Museum/gallery
Paper type Research paper
Background
By supporting individuals to feel more in control of their own mental health, the recovery
approach is consistent with the social model of health which attempts to address the broader
influences on health, including social, cultural, economic and environmental factors (Higgins,
2008). To address the whole person requires an approach that recognises that the person is an
understanding body, rather than just a physiological body, and that perceptions and social
experiences are integrated as a whole. The dualistic division of body and mind is reflected
throughout the health system (Mehta, 2011), not only in terms of how service users are treated
medically and personally, but also in the architecture, economics, technologies and the
organisation of healthcare practices. If recovery is to be understood from a holistic perspective,
where the person’s unique story is at the core, then a critical view of the dominant biomedical
model is needed. The biomedical model is often described as methodically reductionist, where
larger parts are separated into smaller components to be studied individually (Marcum, 2008).
The essential concept of the biomedical model is that human beings are best understood by
separating the spiritual and mental from the physical, and then increasingly moving in closer and
focusing on smaller and smaller organic parts, ending with the function of just one cell.
The recovery approach attempts to include the psychological, spiritual and social aspects of an
individual, and the approach is focused on the active involvement of mental health service users
where their voices are heard, rather than just assumed, by healthcare providers.
In a systematic review and narrative synthesis on personal recovery in mental health, attempting
to identity the human processes of recovery, Leamy et al. (2011) describe part of their findings as
Received 1 August 2017
Revised 11 September 2017
21 October 2017
Accepted 10 November 2017
© Anita jensen.Published in the
Journal of MentalHealth Training,
Educationand Practice.Published
by Emerald Publishing Limited.
This articleis published under the
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(CC BY 4.0) licence.Anyone may
reproduce,distribute, translateand
create derivative works of this article
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& non-commercial purposes),
subject to fullattribution to the
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The full termsof this licence may be
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Anita Jensen is a Postdoc at
the Centre for Culture and
Health, Institute
Communication and
Psychology, Aalborg
University, Copenhagen,
Denmark.
DOI 10.1108/JMHTEP-08-2017-0048 VOL. 13 NO. 3 2018, pp.157-166, Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1755-6228
j
THE JOURNAL OF MENTALHEALTH TRAINING, EDUCATION AND PRACTICE
j
PAGE157
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