News

Dr Nicola Holt of DRAW is pleased to be Editing the Routledge Handbook of Arts and Health, due for publication in 2025, with Prof. Victoria Tischler, Dr Elisabetta Corvo and Dr Sofia Vougioukalou. 

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Routledge Handbook of Arts and Health: Aims and content 

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The arts and health is established as a distinct academic discipline, with specific journals (e.g., Arts & Health), a growing evidence base, expanding practice and policy recommendations. However, as yet, the discipline lacks a comprehensive handbook to define, survey, and critique the discipline. The aim of the proposed handbook is to meet this gap: define the discipline of the arts and health, explain why it is important, and to survey historical developments, current practice, research, theory and policy. This will be done with a critical perspective, and with consideration of emerging and future directions. An interdisciplinary perspective will be taken, as well as considering cross-cultural perspectives and applications. The Handbook will draw on the expertise of leading figures in the field within individual chapters. An overview and critical consideration of arts and health research and practice is currently much needed to synthesise and unify the discipline, and disseminate this to students, academics, practitioners and the wider public, providing a scholarly overview of the discipline that is forward looking and anticipates future directions. 

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The Handbook is structured in five sections, in order to provide: 1) an historical and contextual perspective on the arts and health, defining the field (what it is and what it is not), introducing models and frameworks to help conceptualise the discipline, and considering the context of practice and policy from international perspectives; 2) an overview of the main creative domains used in the arts and health, considering case studies, their evidence base and active ingredients, such as the performing arts, creative writing and the visual arts, since these draw on multi-disciplinary perspectives that are not often synthesised in the literature; 3) Examining the use of the arts for health across the lifespan, highlighting how the arts are used to help with specific health needs and with specific populations, providing a more detailed overview of research and practice in key areas, such as adult mental health, dementia care, children and young people; 4) consideration will be given to how the arts can be used and integrated with specific health professions, such as within primary care, public health interventions, psychiatry  and occupational therapy; and 5) theoretical perspectives, debates and models for understanding the impact of the arts for health will be explored, including biological, social and critical perspectives. The handbook will end with a conclusion considering trends, complexities and future directions for the discipline. 

Through these five themes, the Handbook aims to provide an introduction and thorough grounding of the key areas in which the arts are applied in health, and to explore and elucidate current trends and debates, with the hope that this will fuel future research and discussion. The discipline of the arts and health is at a critical stage where there is a sufficient and diverse body of research and work that requires a text to identify and synthesise, but also at a stage where critical analysis is being called for and reflection about future directions, in terms of the quality of evidence, considerations of the limits of arts of health interventions and developing best practice (how research links into practice), for example. The proposed text aims to guide the reader through the current evidence, debates and issues in a comprehensive and timely manner. 

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Contents: Topic areas 

General introduction 

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Historical and contemporary context of the arts for health 

• History of arts for health  

• Positioning the arts and health: models and frameworks 

• Review of recent scoping reviews and status of the field 

• Arts and health practice and policy worldwide 

• Critical perspectives on the arts for health 

The arts in practice: Domains of arts in health  

• Cultural participation (Art galleries, museums, concerts, festivals)  

• Visual arts and crafts (art, drawing, painting, sculpture, knitting, crafts) 

• Dance 

• Music (playing, listening, instruments, choirs) 

• Creative writing (expressive writing, reading groups, poetry, journaling) 

• Drama, theatre and film 

Arts and health across the lifespan 

• Arts and health for children and young people 

• Arts and maternal mental health 

• Arts and health in the context of adult mental health  

• Arts and health and chronic conditions 

• The arts and migration  

• Arts in the context of trauma 

• Arts and health for older adults/dementia 

• Arts and palliative/end of life care 

Arts in allied health professions and settings 

• The arts within psychology professions

• Art and psychiatry 

• Arts and general practice (including art on prescription) 

• Occupational therapy 

• The arts as a public health and health promotion tool  

• Art in hospitals (and nursing) 

• Art in prisons 

• Art in schools/education 

Theoretical and emerging perspectives on the arts and health 

• Active ingredients/mechanisms of art for health interventions 

• Neurobiology/biology of the arts for health 

• Social theory and the arts for health  

• What can we learn from positive psychology and the psychology of creativity?  

• Epidemiology and arts and health 

• Ethics and guidelines for practice

• Research and evaluation frameworks

Conclusion and future directions