NEA research labs: The arts, health, and social/emotional well-being

Each of our Labs on the “Arts, Health, and Social/Emotional Well-Being” focus on research questions such as the following, under “Therapeutic Approaches and Benefits” or “Non-Therapeutic Approaches and Benefits”: 

Therapeutic Approaches and Benefits

• What changes in physical or mental health outcomes are experienced by subjects receiving creative arts therapies to treat one or more diseases, disorders, or health conditions?
• What is the physiological or psychological mechanism of action for a creative arts therapy in treating a disease or disorder or in improving symptoms for a chronic disease, disorder, or health condition?
• What are the comparative therapeutic benefits of creative arts therapies relative to each other or to non-arts-based interventions?

Non-Therapeutic Approaches and Benefits

• What are the social, emotional, physical, and/or physiological health benefits of the arts for individuals, groups, or societies?
• What physiological or psychological mechanisms or group dynamics are at work in achieving those benefits or related outcomes?
• What kinds of art forms are invoked in these relationships, and at what levels of participation?
• How do these benefits or related outcomes vary by age, socioeconomic characteristics, other demographic and behavioral patterns, and/or by health or disability status? (author introduction)