Going to a concert by an artist we like or to the theater to see a play that excites us usually provokes feelings of pleasure, well-being and satisfaction, which often transcend the moment and pepper our lives, making us feel in a better mood. That is why, in fact, the arts are considered by the World Health Organization an effective tool to improve the emotional well-being of the population. But are they beneficial for everyone? What happens in the case of people with neurodegenerative diseases? Can they serve as non-medical therapies to impact your mental health?
These are some of the questions that the research project Dramatizing health: the role of theater for emotional, social and cognitive well-being, promoted by researchers from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) in collaboration with the Teatre Lliure and the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau. The objective is to evaluate the emotional and cognitive benefits of a program of performing activities, such as theater, in patients with Parkinson’s disease.
“It is not art therapy, because we are not going to directly treat the symptoms of the disease, but Health Arts is an indirect way of providing benefits to people through participatory activities, such as going to the theater, and participatory workshops taught by people experts in coaching actors,” says Marco Calabria, researcher at the NeuroAdaS Lab of the eHealth Center and professor of Health Sciences Studies at the UOC.
Arts in health
The project, which has been selected in the Conecta call of the Social Observatory of the “la Caixa” Foundation, is based on a previous pilot study that UOC researchers carried out last year, also in collaboration with the Teatre Lliure and the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, where they have already studied the effects of therapeutic interventions based on the performing arts. These are new tools, called “health arts”, that use art forms, such as theater, dance or plastic arts, as a means to obtain emotional and cognitive benefits.
The new project will seek to establish a specific theoretical framework that explains the relationship established between the enjoyment of the moment and an improvement in the emotional state, and how this translates to mental health.
“We want to check if this well-being that the arts produce in us has a domino effect that impacts the real lives of patients,” emphasizes Calabria, who is its main researcher. And he emphasizes that, unlike other experiences, this project “was born with a clear research perspective, because there are many interventions that are carried out with the arts to impact health whose effectiveness has not been studied.”
“We are very excited to continue the collaboration with the UOC and the Hospital de Sant Pau with this project that links arts and health; the pilot test has already helped us to have some first positive results and to see the evolution of the participants,” he explains. Alícia Gorina, responsible for the Educational Program at Teatre Lliure. Violeta Sugranyes, theater project coordinator, adds: “We want to continue working to obtain a method applicable in other social contexts and have more arguments that can support medical prescription in the arts health system in the future.”
Parkinson’s, the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disease
The project focuses on patients with Parkinson’s because it is the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disease in society, the incidence of which is expected to increase considerably in the next twenty years. People who suffer from it, in addition to movement disorders, have cognitive difficulties, especially in attention and working memory, and often suffer from apathy, anxiety and even depression. In addition, she is still surrounded by a lot of stigma, which leads to a reduction in social relationships.
With the collaboration of the Movement Disorder Unit of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, they will recruit the participants. The Teatre Lliure, for its part, will be in charge of designing activities together with UOC researchers, as well as selecting the works that the participants will see and carrying out the workshops.
According to Carmen García, neuropsychologist at the Neurology Service of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, “the therapeutic approach to Parkinson’s disease is complex and requires a combination of pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments. We are very happy to participate in this project that “It offers the opportunity to contribute to the knowledge of the effectiveness of non-pharmacological therapeutic options with the necessary scientific rigor. The project unites scenographic activities and has the therapeutic force of being developed in a group context of people with the same disease.” .
In total, 50 volunteers will participate, who will be divided into two groups: 25 will participate in the theater activities and the other 25 will be limited to doing cognitive stimulation, attention and memory activities from home with materials that will be provided to them. In both groups, the emotional and cognitive state of the participants will be evaluated before starting the intervention and at the end of it.
In a second phase, they will repeat the theater intervention, but at a distance, with the aim of breaking barriers with people who live far from cultural facilities. “We will try to validate whether remote interventions carry the same benefits as in-person ones. Here the key element will be the role of the group factor,” considers Calabria.
The emotional and cognitive alterations of neurodegenerative diseases negatively affect the quality of life of the affected people and their environment, with a progressive worsening throughout the disease. For this reason, it is necessary to investigate new interventions that are specific for these alterations in combination with pharmacological therapy. The Arts in health can be an innovative methodology to respond to this need to improve well-being.
This project promotes the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) 3, health and well-being; 5, gender equality; 10, reduction of inequalities, and 16, peace, justice and solid institutions.
Marco Calabria