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Combining the Arts with Health and Social Sciences as Interdisciplinary Curriculum

Jennifer Harman, Saint Leo University

Brittni Cleland, Board Certified Dance/Movement Therapist

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Introductions

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Exploring how combining the Arts and Health/Social Sciences can inform educational approaches to engaging the whole person

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Objectives

Benefits of combining the arts with health/social sciences

Strategies to implement into your classroom

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Breath & Flow State

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Public Education in the United States, �Setting a Context for Arts Integration

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Research in Arts + Health

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Research

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Benefits of Arts + Health

Americas For The Arts: The incorporation of the arts into the healthcare experience has a positive impact on patient health outcomes. The arts benefit patients by aiding in their physical, mental, and emotional recovery, including relieving anxiety and decreasing the perception of pain.

ArtLita: Studies have shown that art can reduce depression, improve overall physical well-being, and slow cognitive decline. In medical offices and hospitals, art creates an environment where patients feel safe, reducing stress and anxiety, and increasing overall satisfaction.

NEA: Creative arts therapies and arts-in-health programs can help to address specific physical and mental health conditions, and can improve the quality of life for patients and their caregivers. In cities, towns, and neighborhoods, meanwhile, arts-based strategies can contribute to greater social cohesion, health equity, and community well-being.

WHO: Including the arts in health care delivery has been shown to support positive clinical outcomes for patients while also supporting other stakeholders, including health care providers, the patient’s loved ones and the wider community. Benefits are seen across several markers, including health promotion, the management of health conditions and illness, and disease prevention.

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Arts Therapies VS Community A+H

Creative Arts Therapies

Assess and Evaluate
Develop Treatment planning
Treat clinical goals
Discharge after treatment & goals are reached

Artists

Teach
Lesson planning
Facilitate lessons
But do not asses or treat for clinical outcomes

Arts + Health

Can include

Creative Art Therapist
Artist
Champion
Medical Professionals
Business Professionals
Academia

Work within the community, schools, hospitals (non treatment related) and with public health initiatives.

Other Stakeholders

Universities
Government Organizations
Hospitals
Nonprofits
Corporate Wellness

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Clinic … Classroom … Community

Brittni & Jenn -- Personal Anecdotes

BC -- Medical chief of staff supports CAT – change maker == CHAMPION
JH -- reading poetry to anxious patients before procedures or treatment – book of poetry about the body
BC -- Psych major – advisor made her choose between dance or psych – ended up with 3 minors and 1 major – could have just done certificate (BA) – profs/advisors didn’t know
JH -- Nyckara example:

Students are typically expected to pick a lane by deciding their major, many of which are often conflicted in choosing between passion and practicality. As an arts educator, I have listened to several students weigh their opportunity costs as they try to navigate their chosen career path while abandoning another. For example, a Bio Med student grappled with abandoning her love of music in pursuit of becoming a doctor. She loved them both but was unaware of the possibility to combine the two. She is now pursuing her graduate studies in the emerging field of NeuroArts and NeuroAesthetics at Johns Hopkins University, where she will study the impact of the arts on the brain.

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Arts in the Health & Social Science Classroom

The Kennedy Center

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Classroom Strategies

for Educators

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Foundation Courses

9 credits

HED 350 - The Wellness of Mind, Body, and Spirit
MHU 201 - Foundations of Medical Humanities

[+]

IDS 310 - The Creative Process*

[OR]

IDS 315 - Medicine and Embodiment

Arts Courses

Choose 1 (3 credits)

ENG 219 - On the Proverbial Road: Journeys of Transformation in Narrative*
ENG 315 - Studies in Narrative: Telling Tales in School*
FAS 110CL - UE: Living the Theatre: Dramatic Skills for all Disciplines
ART 121/122 - Art & Design I / II**
MUS 210CL - UE: Making Sense of the Sound: The Art of Listening Well to Great Music
EDU 369 - Creative Arts for Young Children

Health / Social Sciences

Choose 1 (3 credits)

SWK 220HM - UE: Hip Hop and Social Justice
PSY 347 - Human Behavior in Crisis*
PSY 336 - Military Psychology*
PSY 334 - Child and Adolescent Development
PSY 110HA - UE: Psychological Well Being: How to be Sane in an Insane World

Proposed Arts + Health Certificate (15-cdt)

All courses currently offered at Saint Leo University

* Prerequisite required

** 4 credits (course + studio lab)

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Take Aways

Identify the relationships between arts programs and health and social science disciplines;

Understand the transformative impact and wholistic healing of the arts on social, mental, and emotional wellness, especially with at-risk youth, veterans, and other vulnerable or post-trauma populations;

Acknowledge the value and importance of introducing these interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to the classroom, as they are already being practiced in the community; and

Distinguish community arts and health (experiential; phenomenological) as separate and unlike creative arts therapies (clinical; outcome-based), while both serve as a conduit for healing the mind and body.

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Resources

“Americans for the Arts.” n.d. Americans for the Arts. Accessed April 1, 2023. https://www.americansforthearts.org/.
“Arts and Health.” n.d. Accessed April 1, 2023. https://www.who.int/initiatives/arts-and-health.
“Blog.” n.d. Artlita (blog). Accessed April 1, 2023. https://artlita.com/blog/.
“Center for Arts in Medicine | College of the Arts | University of Florida.” n.d. Accessed April 1, 2023. https://arts.ufl.edu/academics/center-for-arts-in-medicine/.
“CHC White Paper.” n.d. Accessed April 1, 2023. https://arts.ufl.edu/sites/creating-healthy-communities/resources/white-paper/.
“Creative Forces: NEA Military Healing Arts Network.” 2022. November 1, 2022. https://www.arts.gov/initiatives/creative-forces.
Dewey, John. 2005. Art as Experience. Perigee trade paperback ed. A Perigee Book. New York, New York: Berkeley Publ. Group.
Fancourt, Daisy. 2017. Arts in Health: Designing and Researching Interventions. First edition. Oxford ; New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Fennelly, Beth Ann. 2017. Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs. First edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
“Home.” n.d. National Organization for Arts in Health. Accessed April 1, 2023a. https://thenoah.net/.
“International Arts + Mind Lab.” n.d. International Arts + Mind Lab: The Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics (blog). Accessed April 1, 2023. https://www.artsandmindlab.org/.
Luigi, Lorraine Person Kriegel, and Francis Roach. 1997. Luigi’s Jazz Warm up: And Introduction to Jazz Style & Technique. Pennington, N.J: Princeton Book Co.
Magsamen, Susan, and Ivy Ross. 2023. Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us. First edition. New York: Random House.
Oefner, Fabian. 2013. The Invisible Dimension. Photograph.
PAMA. Accessed April 1, 2023b. https://artsmed.org/.
Public Education in the United States, Setting a Context for Arts Integration. n.d. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25i3RJ9gvIs&t=389s.
Ramacharaka, Yogi. 1914. Science of Breath. Watchmaker Publishing.
“Research | Center for Arts in Medicine | College of the Arts | University of Florida.” n.d. Accessed March 31, 2023. https://arts.ufl.edu/academics/center-for-arts-in-medicine/researchandpublications/.
Shange, Ntozake. 2020. Dance We Do: A Poet Explores Black Dance. Boston: Beacon Press.
“USF Performing Arts Medicine Collaborative | School of Music | College of The Arts | University of South Florida.” n.d. Accessed April 1, 2023. https://www.usf.edu/arts/music/events/pama/index.aspx.
Van der Kolk, Bessel A. 2015. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma. New York, NY: Penguin Books.
“VetArtSpan | Building a Unified Community of Support for Veterans.” n.d. Accessed April 1, 2023. https://vetartspan.org/.
Watts, David. 2017. Having and Keeping: Poems. Columbus, GA: Brick Road Poetry Press.
“What Is Arts Integration?” n.d. The Kennedy Center. Accessed March 31, 2023. https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/resources-for-educators/classroom-resources/articles-and-how-tos/articles/collections/arts-integration-resources/what-is-arts-integration/
“Your Brain on Art.” n.d. Accessed April 1, 2023. https://www.yourbrainonart.com/.
Zacarian, Debbie, Lourdes Alvarez-Ortiz, and Judie Haynes. 2017. Teaching to Strengths: Supporting Students Living with Trauma, Violence, and Chronic Stress. Alexandria, Virginia, USA: ASCD.

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Contact Info

Jennifer Harman, MA-CW

Adjunct Faculty, English / Writing / Theatre

College of Arts and Sciences, Saint Leo University

PhD Cohort 2022, Texas Woman's University

jennifer.harman@saintleo.edu

Brittni Cleland. M.A., BC-DMT, NASM-CPT

Board Certified Dance/Movement Therapist

Creative Forces Creative Arts Therapist

BCleland@neacreativeforces.org

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Thank You!