Exploring Museum Impact on Health: Stroke Perspectives

1. Developing methodologies for assessing the impact of museums programme for diverse health audiences Kath Boodhai, Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums Wendy Gallagher, Whitworth Art Gallery, The University of Manchester Research Team: Dr Nuala Morse, Whitworth Art Gallery, The University of Manchester and UCL Culture Dr Linda Thomson, UCL Culture Zoë Brown, Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums Prof. Helen Chatterjee, UCL Culture and UCL Division of Biosciences

2. Not So Grim Up North: Investigating the health and wellbeing benefits of museum-based activities • October 2015-February 2018 • Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums; Whitworth Art Gallery and Manchester Museum • UCL as research partner • Arts Council Funded IRAS ID Number: 199643

3. Overall Project Aims • To better understand the impacts of museum activities on health and wellbeing outcomes for a range of audiences including: • older adults living with dementia in a hospital setting • adults with mental health issues • adults in addiction recovery • stroke rehabilitation patients • stroke survivors in a community setting • To co-develop a mixed-methods approach to assess the value and impact of ‘museums-in-health’ programmes for participants from a wide range of audience groups • To identify the critical success factors for delivering museums-in-health programming and evaluation • To develop an evaluation framework for future museum programming.

4. This talk • Focus on Stroke • Two settings: hospital (Wendy) and community/museums (Kath) • Research methodologies for each setting • Emerging findings, reflections and challenges

5. Stroke: some key information • There are over 1.2 million stroke survivors in the UK • Stroke is the leading cause of disability in the UK – almost two thirds of stroke survivors leave hospital with a disability • A stroke is usually unexpected and can bring dramatic changes to peoples’ lives: • How the body functions: problems with movement (often on side), balance, vision, and excessive fatigue • ‘Hidden’ effects: problems with communication; emotional impacts; problems with memory and thinking; changes to behaviour Source: Stroke Association (source: Stroke Association)

6. Art and Culture Club at the Stroke Unit, Trafford General Hospital • 4 year partnership • 1-2 hour session delivered by artist • Arts and crafts; object handling; singing, all inspired by the collections

7. Co-developing research methodology • Working with Occupational Therapists: Understanding what tools and assessments are routinely used in healthcare settings for measuring patient outcomes. • Developing bespoke tool for assessing impact of museum sessions. • Research focus: • Do the museum sessions support patient wellbeing and social interaction? • Do the museum sessions support upper limb functioning? • Time frame: 2 x 6 Weeks; 6 patients

8. Research: 6 participants • Patient perspectives • UCL Wellbeing questionnaire (after sessions, 4 participants) • Short Form Stroke Impact Scale (pre and post project, 4 participants) • End of project interview • Follow-on interviews on phone 3 months and 6 months (3 participants) • Observations by researcher during session and video recording • Wellbeing (mood displayed) • Physical, Visual and Verbal Engagement with activity • Social engagement • Retrospective analysis of video • Duration of engagement • Involvement of non-dominant side in activities • Staff perspectives: • Pre and post assessment mood, social interaction on ward and involvement of non-dominant side • Clinical health outcomes (functioning and mood screening) • Ward Level data • Clinical health outcomes 6 months after museum programme (functioning and mood screening) • Artists perspectives: • Facilitator diaries and interviews

9. Reflections Partnership • Practicalities of using museum objects • Training • Consents • Recruitment • Funding Emerging findings indicate positive impacts on patient wellbeing: sessions enable patients to ‘get out of themselves’ and worrying about the stroke Next steps: • Feedback session with staff in June • Future model of delivery working with Activity Coordinators

10. ‘Self and Recovering through photography’: Tyne & Wear Museums & Archives • Partnership withMoving on Partnership, Momentum & Stroke Association • 9 participants • 8 weeks • Part of TWAM wellbeing programme • Object handling and gallery visits • Storytelling, personal objects and on-location photography portraits

11. Research: 9 participants Health outcomes: Stroke Impact Scale (pre and post programme) Wellbeing: UCL Museum Wellbeing Measure: positive and negative umbrellas(pre and post each session) End of project interviews Portraits and stories Participant perspectives Staff perspective: • Museum Facilitator diary and interview • Staff end of project interviews

12. Challenges • Collective’ and ‘individual’ engagement as stroke affects everyone differently. • ‘Where we/the museum can fit’ recovering and rehabilitating: the physical, social and emotional aspects of living with stroke • Broad remit of Moving on Together, Momentum Skills & Stroke Association

14. Opportunities • Approaches to museum activities enabling the social & emotional aspects of stroke rehabilitation: the ‘feeling’, ‘thinking’, ‘interacting’ ‘sharing’ & ‘reflecting’ • The use of (museum) objects, words, lists, photos, maps can help trigger memory and enable communication

15. Reflections • Participation & informed practice • Objects as vehicle for storytelling for recovery (past self - present self - future self) • ‘Capturing the moment’ & ‘language’ of participants in reflecting & recovering identity e.g. ‘falling out of the scene’; ‘moving on’ & ‘…its just where we are now’ • Emergent spaces of peer-support - active listening, sharing skills and knowledge

16. Researching health and wellbeing impacts: Wider Reflections and Challenges • Importance of mixed-methods (qualitative and quantitative) • Importance of co-developing methodologies for understanding impact • Different methods in different contexts • Innovative use of video methods and analysing data • Strategic dissemination of research findings • Forward plan for building on research findings and methodologies

17. Thank You www.healthandculture.org.uk/not-so-grim-up-north