‘Unlocking the door to being there’: The contribution of creative facilitators in supporting people living with dementia to engage with heritage settings

Abstract

This article reports findings from the evaluation of ‘Sensory Palaces’, an innovative project developed by the charity Historic Royal Palaces, which looks after six of the United Kingdom’s unoccupied royal palaces. The Sensory Palaces project employs creative facilitators to support people living with dementia and their care partners in engaging with two of these sites; Hampton Court Palace and Kew Palace. This paper focusses on the role and contribution of the creative facilitators in supporting people living with dementia to connect with these heritage spaces. It reports on data collected from facilitator interviews relating to the benefits of engaging together through sensory and creative methods to explore and share experiences of the palaces, drawing out important factors from the design, content and delivery of the sessions.

Keywords

creative facilitators dementia heritage sites sensory arts well-being

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

About Face Theatre Company (n.d). What we do. Retrieved from http://www.aboutfacetheatre.org.uk/about-face-what-we-do.php

All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing (2017). Creative health: The arts for health and wellbeing. (2nd Edition). London, UK. APPGAHG. Retrieved from http://www.artshealthandwellbeing.org.uk/appg-inquiry/Publications/Creative_Health_Inquiry_Report_2017.pdf

Ander

E. E.

Thomson

L. J.

Blair

Noble

Menon

Lanceley

Chatterjee

H. J.

(2013). Using museum objects to improve wellbeing in mental health service users and neurological rehabilitation clients. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 76, 208–216. doi: 10.4276/030802213X13679275042645

Basting

A. D.

Killick

(2003). The arts and dementia care. A resource guide. Brooklyn, NY: National Centre for Creative Aging.

Bellass

Balmer

May

Keady

Buse

Capstick

, … Hodgson

(2018). Broadening the debate on creativity and dementia: A critical approach. Dementia. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/1471301218760906

Billington

Carroll

Davis

P. R.

Healey

Kinderman

(2013). A literature-based intervention for older people living with dementia. Perspectives in Public Health, 133, 165–173. doi: 10.1177/1757913912470052

Braun

Clarke

(2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 109–123. doi: 10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Camic

P. M.

Baker

Tischler

(2015). Theorising how art gallery interventions affects people with dementia and their caregivers. The Gerontologist, 56, 1–10. DOI: 10.1093/geront/gnv063.

Camic

P. M.

Tischler

Pearman

C. H.

(2014). Viewing and making art together: A multi-session art-gallery-based intervention for people with dementia and their carers. Aging & Mental Health, 18, 161–168. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2013.818101

10.

Camic

P. M.

Chatterjee

H. J.

(2013). Museums and art galleries as partners for public health interventions. Perspectives in Public Health, 133, 66–71. doi: 10.1177/1757913912468523

11.

Clair

A. A.

(1996). The effect of singing on alert responses in persons with late stage dementia. Journal of Music Therapy, 23, 243–247. doi: 10.1093/jmt/33.4.234

12.

Dewing

(2008). Process consent and research with older people living with dementia. Research Ethics Review, 4, 59–64. doi: 10.1177/174701610800400205

13.

Eekelaar

Camic

P. M.

Springham

(2012). Art galleries, episodic memory and verbal fluency in dementia: An exploratory study. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 6, 262–272. doi: 10.1037/a0027499

14.

Flatt

Liptak

Oakly

Varner

Lingler

(2015). Subjective experiences of an art museum engagement activity for persons with early Alzheimer’s disease and their family caregivers. American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias, 30, 380–389. doi: 10.1177/1533317514549953

15.

Groom

Prosser

(2006). Kew palace: The official illustrated history. London, UK: HRP & Merrell.

16.

Historic Royal Palaces (HRP). (n.d.a). About us. Retrieved from https://www.hrp.org.uk/about-us/#gs.aPf8tew

17.

Historic Royal Palaces (HRP). (n.d.b). Brief for sensory palaces: New Hampton Court Palace sessions. Unpublished briefing document.

18.

Historic Royal Palaces (2017). Rethinking heritage: A guide to help make your site more dementia-friendly. Retrieved from https://www.hrp.org.uk/media/1544/2017-11-14_rethinkingheritage_lowres_final.pdf

19.

Hong

I. S.

Choi

M. J.

(2011). Songwriting oriented activities improve the cognitive functions of the aged with dementia. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 38, 221–228. DOI: 10.1016/j.aip.2011.07.002.

20.

Huss

(2018). Keynote: Arts in social work: Do we really need it? Artists and Social Workers – making a difference together. Manchester Conference Centre 12 June 2018.

21.

Huss

Sela-Amit

(2018). Art in social work: Do we really need it? Research on Social Work Practice. doi: 10.1177/1049731517745995

22.

Johnson

Culverwell

Hulbert

Robertson

Camic

P. M.

(2015). Museum activities in dementia care: Using visual analog scales to measure subjective wellbeing. Dementia, 6, 591–610. doi: 10.1177/1471301215611763

23.

Koch

(2017). Arts and health: Active factors and a theory of embodied aesthetics. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 54, 85–91. doi: 10.1016/j.aip.2017.02.002

24.

Koestler Trust (n.d). About us. Retrieved from https://www.koestlertrust.org.uk/about-us/

25.

MacPherson

Bird

Anderson

Davis

Blair

(2009). An art gallery access programme for people with dementia: ‘You do it for the moment’. Ageing & Mental Health, 13, 744–752. doi: 10.1080/13607860902918207

26.

Mittelman, M., & Epstein, C. (2009). The NYU evaluation of Meet Me at MoMA. In F. Rosenberg, A. Parsa, L. Humble, C. McGee (Eds.), Meet me: Making art accessible for people with Dementia (pp.87–105). New York, NY: Museum of Modern Art.

27.

National Museums Liverpool. (2012). House of Memories: An evaluation of National Museums Liverpool: Dementia Training Programme. Retrieved from https://houseofmemories.co.uk/media/1013/house-of-memories-evaluation-report.pdf

28.

Osman

S. E.

Tischler

Schneider

(2014). ‘Singing for the Brain’: A qualitative study exploring the health and well-being benefits of singing for people with dementia and their carers. Dementia, Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/1471301214556291

29.

Roberts

Camic

P. M.

Springham

(2011). New roles for art galleries: Art-viewing as a community intervention for family carers of people with mental health problems. Arts & Health: An International Journal for Research, Policy and Practice, 3, 146–159. doi: 10.1080/17533015.2011.561360

30.

Robinson

Emden

Croft

Vosper

Elder

Stirling

Vickers

(2011). Mixed methods data collection in dementia research: A “Progressive Engagement” approach. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 5, 330–344. doi: 10.1177/1558689811416940

31.

Roe

McCormick

Lucas

Gallagher

Winn

Elkin

(2016). Coffee, cake & culture: Evaluation of an art for health programme for older people in the community. Dementia, 15, 539–559. doi: 10.1177/1471301214528927

32.

Sauer

P. E.

Fopma-Loy

Kinney

J. M.

Lokon

(2016). “It makes me feel like myself”: Person-centered versus traditional visual arts activities for people with dementia. Dementia, 15, 895–912. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/1471301214543958

33.

Sensory Palaces (n.d). Sensory palaces workshop template. Unpublished document.

34.

Smiraglia

(2015). Qualities of the participant experience in an object-based museum outreach program to retirement communities. Educational Gerontology, 41, 238–248. doi: 10.1080/03601277.2014.954493

35.

Solway

Thomson

Camic

P. M.

Chatterjee

H. J.

(2015). Museum object handling in older adult mental health. International Journal of Mental Health Promotion, 17, 201–214. doi: 10.1080/14623730.2015.1035520

36.

Streetwise Opera (2018). The impact of streetwise opera April 2017–March 2018. Retrieved from http://streetwiseopera.org/sites/default/files/Streetwise%20Opera%20Impact%20Report%202017-2018.pdf

37.

Subramaniam

Woods

Whitaker

(2014). Life review and life story books for people with mild to moderate dementia: A randomised controlled trial. Aging and Mental Health, 18, 363–375. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2013.837144

38.

Vankova

Holmerova

Machacova

Volicer

Veleta

Celko

A. M.

(2014). The effect of dance on depressive symptoms in nursing home residents. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association (JAMDA), 15, 582–587. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2014.04.013

39.

Windle

Gregory

Howson-Griffiths

Newman

O’Brien

Goulding

(2017). Exploring the theoretical foundations of visual art programmes for people living with dementia. Dementia. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/1471301217726613

40.

Worsley

Souden

(2005). Hampton Court Palace: The official illustrated history. London, UK: HRP & Merrell.

41.

Zeilig

Killick

Fox

(2014). The participative arts for people living with dementia: A critical review. International Journal of Ageing and Later Life, 9, 7–34. doi: 10.3384/ijal.1652-8670.14238