Creative Journeys Report 2019

46 Creative Journeys Older people in care home settings often experience difficulty maintaining relationships with, and can feel ‘cut off’ from, their wider community. However, these findings show that participatory arts activities can help to enhance residents’ engagement with and contribution to their wider community, including relationships with relatives, local community groups/organisations/charities, volunteers, external arts practitioners and more. This is through providing a topic of conversation, a shared experience, and changing relationships dynamics, with residents having something more to contribute and being valued for that contribution. The next sections will look at the mediating factors relating to the creative process and the care context that enabled or inhibited these impacts on social relationships. 4.5 What is it about participatory arts in care contexts? The following sections explore the mediating factors which facilitate arts activities in being able to impact on the social relationships of residents in care home settings, exploring the answer to the question ‘Why art?’ [Arts] brings people together socially but it’s also an important part of people’s lives throughout their lives. So it’s a part of their personal story and I think when you get later in life, those memories and that personal story is very important to you, particularly as it ebbs away. (Arts organisations focus group) Through the research we have identified what we term ‘mediating factors’. These mediating factors can be facilitators or barriers to the impact of participatory arts activities on the social relationships of older people in care homes. We have identified two types of mediating factors: those related to the care context, and those related specifically to the creative process (see Figure 3). We outline each of these mediating factors below, with illustrative quotes from the stage one observations, interviews and focus groups; and the stage two survey, interviews and arts organisations focus group. Figure 3: Mediating factors Mediating factors Creative process Care context Participating groupwork Practicalities and preparation The approach of the facilitator Care home capacity, support & culture Power of the arts