Museums and Health: Handling Heritage Workshop

Dr Helen J ChatterjeeDeputy Director UCL Museums / Senior Lecturer in Biology,

+ Dr Linda Thomson, University College London

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Why Museums?

• Many museums are socially inclusive and offer engaging in-reach and outreach programmes

• Track record in evaluation• Most are free and (largely) accessible

“Museums and galleries have always served a number of purposes other than the evident one of enabling visitors to appreciate their collections of art and artefacts. They are a site for social interaction and for acquiring and conveying an air of cultural authority. They may provide a cool place on a hot day or a quiet retreat” (Constance Classen 2007: 897)

“Museums and galleries are one of the few remaining public spaces where people can discuss, learn about, and reflect on life” (Chris Wood 2008: 2)

Research shows that museums benefit health and wellbeing through:• positive social experiences, leading to reduced social isolation

• opportunities for learning and acquiring news skill

• calming experiences, leading to decreased anxiety

• increased positive emotions, such as optimism, hope and enjoyment

• increased self-esteem and sense of identity

• increased inspiration and opportunities for meaning making

• positive distraction from clinical environments, including hospitals and care homes

• increased communication between families, carers and health professionals

Sources: Culture Unlimited (2008) Museums of the Mind project; Davenport & Corner (2011) Ageing, Health and Vitality project; Balshaw et al. (2012) Culture + Health report; Chatterjee & Thomson et al (2008-2013) Heritage in Hospitals project

Museums, Health and Wellbeing SurveyMuseum/Gallery:

Project title:

Project contact (leader/coordinator/facilitator) + their job title:

Contact details:

Summary (aims and objectives):

Health/wellbeing outcomes:

Learning outcomes:

Evaluation or measurement methods used (Formative and/or Summative):

Participants (e.g. hospital outpatients/inpatients, care home residents, GP referrals):

Project Partners:

Length of project (indicate if ongoing):

Cost of project (estimate if not known):

Funders:

Sustainability of the project:

Advice/Challenges:

Training:

Further information:

• To explore the psychosocial impact of object handling on patients, carers and staff

• To examine the variety of patients’ responses re: the influence of social factors; different types of object; different settings

• To develop an effective protocol for object handling in healthcare settings

To understand the impact of museum object handling as a therapeutic or enrichment activity within healthcare

Heritage in HospitalsAims and objectives

Healthcare settings:•University College London Hospitals Trust (2 hospitals)•Prospect Park Psychiatric Hospital, Reading•John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford•Residential care homes (London, Reading, Oxford)

Museums:•>20 different partners, e.g. The British Museum•Oxford University Museums Service•Reading Museums Service•ACE

Think Tanks:•NEF•ILC-UK

Third Sector Agencies:•The Alzheimer's Society•AgeUK•Royal Society for Public Health

Partners

What we did…

• Develop protocol; gain medical ethics committee approval; design handling sessions; agree data collection methodology

• Over 300 museum object handling sessions with hospital patients + care home residents

• Collect data on patients’ wellbeing before, during and after 30-40 minute handling session

• Reflect on our experience of museums-in-healthcare

VAS – Visual Analogue Scale(EuroQol, 1990)………….to measure subjective wellbeing

Heritage in Hospitals Wellbeing Measures

PANAS - Positive Affect Negative Affect (Watson, Clark & Tellegen, 1988)….…to measure psychological wellbeing

1 2 3 4 5

very slightly a little moderately quite a bit extremely

Positive Mood Negative Mood

Active

Alert

Attentive

Determined

Enthusiastic

Excited

Inspired

Interested

Proud

Strong

Afraid

Ashamed

Distressed

Guilty

Hostile

Irritable

Jittery

Nervous

Scared

Upset

Heritage in HospitalsWellbeing Measures

Experimental and Control conditionsExperimental condition: Looking at, handling and discussing museum objects

Implicates visual, tactile and verbal modalities

Control condition: Looking at and discussing photographs of museum objects (the same set of objects as used in the experimental condition)

Implicates visual and verbal modalities

Heritage in HospitalsIm

ages ©

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ms

Negative moodPositive mood

Pre-sessionPost-session

Experimental and Control comparisons

Psych

iatric h

osp

ital

Resid

ential

care ho

me

Neu

ro

rehab

(o

utp

atients

)Neu

ro

rehab

(in

patien

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Gen

male

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Gen

female

on

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Gyn

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Acu

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elderly care

Su

rgical

adm

ission

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Wellness scores

Positive adjective scores

Psych

iatric h

osp

ital

Resid

ential

care ho

me

Neu

ro

rehab

(o

utp

atients

)Neu

ro

rehab

(in

patien

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Gen

male

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Gen

female

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Gyn

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Acu

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elderly care

Su

rgical

adm

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New perspectives

Excitement, enjoyment, wonder, positive feelings (e.g. privilege, luck, surprise)

Learning (including skills and confidence)

Energy, alertness, flow

Cheered up

Sense of identity, meaning making opportunities

Something different, inspiring

Calming, relieves anxiety

Passing time

Social experience

Tactile experience

Outcomes - Qualitative inductive thematic analysis and grounded theory

Patients were distracted from their clinical

surroundings and felt healthier and happier

Object handling had beneficial effects on wellbeing though

unclear whether effects were just psychological

Further studies need to be carried out on a greater

variety of patients as well as their carers and

healthcare staff

Findings contributed to a best practice manual for care workers, museum

professionals and volunteers

Conclusions

Heritage in Hospitals project team•Helen Chatterjee, Linda Thomson, Usha Menon and Anne Lanceley, UCL•Guy Noble, University College London Hospital Arts•The British Museum, Oxford University Museums and Reading Museums ServiceFurther informationHelen: h.chatterjee@ucl.ac.uk / Linda: linda.thomson@ucl.ac.ukWebsite: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums/research/touch/wellbeing

New book – coming soon: Museums, Health and Well-being (Ashgate Press Ltd)

by Helen Chatterjee and Guy Noble

Acknowledgements•Participating museum and gallery staff and their audiences•AHRC (Arts & Humanities Research Council

Museum Object Handling Session:

•In groups explore and discuss a selection of objects from UCL Museums.•Your conversations might focus on….

What are the objects?What do the objects remind you of?How do they make you feel?How might museum activities such as this benefit wellbeing?

At the end… 5 mins group feedback on ‘how you think this sort of activity might lead to wellbeing outcomes’