Creative Journeys Report 2019

34 Creative Journeys I certainly know a lot more people now, know a lot more about them, as well, and have interacted with a lot more than I would have done.... (Stage one staff member) I think for a start it can give us something to talk about to them, because obviously the staff can’t be here, but I think generally speaking, well let’s say the bonding. It helps, definitely. (Stage one resident) It is important to note that these benefits to resident and staff relationships did not solely happen with those staff who were directly taking part in the arts activities. For example, wider care staff would ask residents about what they had been doing in the arts sessions when they took them back to their rooms afterwards, or residents would be excited about what they had done in the session and so they would tell other staff about it throughout the day. Some of the wider care staff at Vaudeville Care Home were able to view the film that was produced with Age Exchange in their own time and this provided a further opportunity for learning more about the residents, despite not having attended the sessions, which laid the foundation for sustained interactions. A few of them have seen the film and a lot of them didn’t really know what was going on, depending on the floors they were based on, but when they saw it they said how effective it was and that they didn’t realise it would be as interesting. As I said, they are trying to talk about the past more; they will ask somebody about where they came from. Even though most of it is in their care plans, they are now asking the residents about it themselves so that they can speak about it more rather than just reading about it in the care plan. (Stage one activities coordinator) The arts activities were also felt to enable residents to express themselves in a different way, and in a form that didn’t always rely on verbal communication, which was especially important for some of the residents with more severe cognitive impairment. The findings from the case studies were supported by the survey responses with the opportunity for residents and staff to laugh together and have fun through participating together in the activities mentioned as a positive impact of participating. In addition, the value of arts and cultural activities in creating a talking point for staff was also recognised, further supporting the findings from the case studies. 4.3.2 Shared experiences Participating in arts activities gave residents and staff the chance to do something creative together, that they might not otherwise have thought of or had the opportunity to do due to differing experiences and interests across generations and the limitations of everyday life in the care home context. Residents and staff taking part in the art activities were sharing an experience together, and this gave them an opportunity to learn new things about each other such as a person’s interests and skills.