Promoting Creative Engagement in the Elderly
Susan H. McFadden, Ph.D., professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, and coauthor with Dr. Basting of a paper titled “Healthy Aging Persons and Their Brains: Promoting Resilience Through Creative Engagement” published in February (Clin. Geriatr. Med. 2010;26:149-61), believes that one of the most fundamental mechanisms is the “sense of social connectedness” that comes from working together on projects related to the arts.
Other possible contributors are “the physical activity in some of these programs, the sense of optimism people feel about working together on something they all think is important, the positive emotions they experience, and a sense of mastery and hopefulness that comes from investing yourself in something important,” she said in an interview. “All of these have positive effects on the immune system, the endocrine system, and the nervous system.”
She said several organizations support creative engagement with well and frail older adults, and several well-known programs target this population. The University of Wisconsin Center on Age & Community Web site has an extensive list of products and resources, including free, downloadable white papers on this issue (www.aging.uwm.eduwww.aging.uwm.eduwww.creativeaging.org
Also, she said, the Society for the Arts in Healthcare is in the process of putting together a primer aimed at helping artists learn how to work with frail older adults; the Museum of Modern Art, New York, has an elegant book called “Meet Me: Making Art Accessible to People with Dementia” that seeks to help museums begin education programs for people with dementia; and a book by John Zeisel, Ph.D., addresses the arts as part of a full treatment plan that also includes assessment of the environment (“I'm Still Here” [New York: Avery, 2009]).
In her book, “Forget Memory: Creating Better Lives for People With Dementia” (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009), Dr. Basting highlights a range of arts programs designed for the elderly.
By Diana Mahoney. Share your thoughts and suggestions at cpnews@elsevier.com
