Capturing the Contribution of Community Arts to Health and Well-Being*

TLDR

The study is grounded in the VicHealth Mental Health Promotion Framework, which emphasizes social capital, inclusion, freedom from discrimination and violence, and access to resources as key social determinants of mental health. The project seeks to expand knowledge of community arts as a tool for mental health promotion. The study uses the Most Significant Change method to evaluate The Torch Project, a community arts initiative funded by VicHealth. Early results show that participants developed stronger social networks and increased trust and reciprocity within the project group.

Abstract

This paper reports on a VicHealth-funded research project which aims to enhance the knowledge of community arts, a field of increasing importance in mental health promotion. The research explores social capital and social inclusion, which underpin the VicHealth Mental Health Promotion Framework (VicHealth, 2005a). The framework seeks intermediate outcomes in attainment of the social determinants of mental health, defined as social inclusion, freedom from discrimination and violence, and access to economic and social resources. The paper reports on early findings as measured by the instrument Most Significant Change in the evaluation of the community arts project, The Torch Project. Findings include the development of the social networks of participants and of trust and reciprocity between members of the project group.