Creative Journeys Report 2019
40 Creative Journeys Little attention has been given to the social relationships that can develop between residents and staff in care homes, as opposed to caring relationships. Overall, the findings show that participatory arts impact on the social relationships between residents and staff by enhancing both verbal and non-verbal communication and providing a topic of conversation, enabling shared experiences between residents and staff, and changing the dynamics of the relationship so that residents are able to make more of a contribution by drawing on their knowledge and experience. The next section will consider the impact of participatory arts on the social relationships between care homes and the wider community. 4.4 Relationships between residents and the wider community Care home settings for older adults have been described as shaping the relationships its residents have within their local communities (e.g. Kane, 2001). The opportunity to keep in touch with their community has been identified as a dimension of good quality of life for older adults living in residential care, including older adults maintaining contact with their community and equally people from the community being involved in activities in the home (Murphy et al., 2006). However, older adults in care home settings can experience difficulty maintaining relationships with, and feel ‘cut off’ from, the outside world (e.g. Murphy et al., 2006; Buckley and McCarthy, 2009). The findings demonstrated an impact of participatory arts on the social relationships between residents and members of the wider community, including enhancing communication, sharing experiences and changing the dynamics of the relationships. For the purpose of this research, the wider community consisted of relatives of residents, local groups/organisations, volunteers, external arts practitioners, and other members of the community more generally who were somehow connected to the care home. 4.4.1 Communication It was evident in stage one that the arts activities provided a new topic of conversation for residents and their relatives. A few relatives were able to be directly involved in the arts programmes, attending each week or on occasional sessions, particularly for Green Candle; attending the final performance for Sinfonia Viva with Orchestras Live; and attending the film viewing for Age Exchange, or watching the film at a later date. With the Green Candle dance programme, one relative (a daughter of one of the residents) attended every week and it was evident through the observations that there was lots of verbal and non-verbal communication between the relative and her mother, but also between the relative and other residents sitting nearby in the circle. For example, the relative modelled the dance moves to her family member and to the other residents who then mirrored her actions, and there was lots of smiling, laughing, holding hands and conversations taking place. One week the daughter was running late for the session and one of the other residents asked her mother “Is [Lucy] coming?” and then when she did arrive the residents waved and smiled and ‘Lucy’ got involved straight away helping her mother and the other residents around her with the activity. Later on in the session, ‘Lucy’s’ mother said after an activity “I didn’t do very well” and ‘Lucy’ replied “You did really well” and the resident sitting next to them showed empathy for the mother and asked ‘Lucy’ “Is your mother ok?” and the three of them then continued to engage in conversation. Even for those relatives who were not able to directly participate in the different arts programmes, the arts programme provided a topic of conversation when they visited or called. This topic of conversation also lasted beyond the arts programme for some residents and their relatives.
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