Arts Engagement is a Health Behavior
The Arts for Engagement is a Health Behavior infographic emphasizes the significant role of arts engagement in addressing mental health disparities and enhancing mental well-being. It illustrates how historically underserved communities experience higher rates of mental illness and face challenges such as racism and economic hardship. Notably, there's a substantial gap in mental health service access among different racial groups, with White Americans receiving more mental health services compared to Black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans in 2021.
The infographic further highlights the benefits of participating in the arts, which include improving self-confidence, reducing blood pressure, stress levels, and heart rate, and mitigating the effects of loneliness and isolation. Arts engagement is shown to increase social connections, enhance awareness of mental health issues, elevate underrepresented voices, and support social, cultural, and policy changes aimed at promoting well-being and social inclusion.
Innovative approaches like CultureRx and Project: Music Heals Us are mentioned as examples of how arts and cultural experiences are being utilized to support health needs, particularly among populations with limited access to such engagements. CultureRx allows healthcare providers to prescribe arts and cultural experiences, while Project: Music Heals Us focuses on providing high-quality live music and interactive programming to elderly, disabled, incarcerated, and unhoused populations.
Social prescribing is defined within the infographic as programs enabling health and social care providers to recommend arts, culture, or nature experiences to support patients' health and well-being, showcasing a method to increase access to arts engagement and thereby enhance mental health education, advocacy, and community support.
