Background | The arts in health glossary

One of the goals of the National Agenda is to “Develop a diverse and unified field of education and practice”. An action item attached to that goal is to build ‘consensus on a common terminology’ for the arts in health field. To that end, we offer a set of glossary terms. Note that many of these terms have quite different implications or meanings in different sub-areas of arts in health. This list is offered as a starting point for developing a common terminology.  ‍

Administrators - These are the directors or managers of programs, organizations, and institutions that have a health interest. Administrators could come from the private sector, though most often they are in public-focused institutions and organisations.  

AiH continuum of practices - This refers to the diversity of practices that make up the field of arts in health, all of which focus on care and support for wellbeing. This includes participatory arts, arts therapy, design for health, and others. 

Arts in health - The use of creative art-making to support health and wellbeing. 

Bedside art-making - Facilitating active art-making with patients with patients who are in bed, in care facilities. This can be either a non-therapeutic participatory activity, or a creative arts therapeutic intervention. The term distinguishes this type of practice from staff-focused art-making, and community-based arts in health, and others. 

Care - This important term refers to the support for a person’s wellbeing that is provided or supported by arts in health practice. Care is the characteristic distinguishing arts in health from other types of arts activities. In creative arts therapies, care can focus on treatment and predictable health outcomes, whereas in participatory arts in health, care focuses more on general support for wellbeing or supporting care by some other provider. Care is delivered not only in the creative practice, but also in the ethics and professionalism of the practitioner. 

Care aesthetics - The study of the aesthetic aspects of care. 

Compassion fatigue - Emotional and/or physical exhaustion experienced by formal and informal caregivers leading to diminished ability to empathise, inability to work, depression and other negative health outcomes. 

Community-based arts - Arts activities based in community settings, most often projects and programs directly involving community members. 

Creative expression - The use of various art forms to express oneself creatively, sometimes used in describing arts support for mental and emotional wellbeing.

Creative arts therapies - Art-making as a medium for healing and self-expression, practiced by licensed therapists with specialised therapeutic training. 

Cultural participation - Community participation in cultural activities, for example attending concerts or festivals, museums, community events, as well as participation in amateur art-making. 

Cultural programs in long-term care - Arts and cultural activities designed to enhance the quality of life of residents in long-term care.

Ethical and care protocols - Guidelines and standards for ethical behavior and care practices in care settings. These are likely different depending on whether the professional is doing participatory arts or arts therapies.   ‍

Expressive or creative movement - Similar to dance, these are movement-based arts activities supporting health and wellbeing.

Funders - These may include governments at any level, institutions (for example schools, insurers, etc.) and organisations (e.g., non-profits or community organisations). Funders include some private sector organizations (health insurers, for instance) as well as the public sector. 

Intersectoral collaboration - Efforts between public institutions (healthcare, arts education, etc.) to achieve common goals. May take the form of projects, programs, or policies to address issues and pursue goals across social sectors, for example the arts and healthcare. 

Medical humanities - An interdisciplinary humanities field (arts, literature, philosophy, etc.) in medical education and practice.

Participatory arts - In AiH practice, activities that actively involve both participants and artists in art-making. Participatory practice also has implications for the inclusion of marginalised people.

Patient activation - Encouraging patients to engage actively in their own wellbeing and health care.

Person-centred care - Healthcare that focuses on the individual's specific health needs and desired health outcomes.

Positive health - A health concept that emphasizes the ability to adapt and self-manage in the face of social, physical, and emotional challenges.

Practitioners - Arts in health practitioners are skilled in using arts practices to support wellbeing. Practitioners build participation in art-making, working with participants who have no experience in art-making, or helping people who want to make art at higher levels of skill. 

Resilience - The ability to resist illness or harm, and/or the capacity to recover from illness or harm. Resilience can be applied to individual wellbeing, or to groups, places, or populations. 

Resources - This might refer to person hours, money, useful physical things like office space or equipment, but also experience, ideas, useful documents, databases, etc. 

Science - This term refers to existing and recent literature, most often in peer-reviewed journals. The terms could refer to health sciences research, but also social sciences, and also humanities research.

Scientific research - This most often refers to the production of new knowledge, and peer-reviewed publications. The term ‘research’ is technically appropriate to describe program evaluation, though in practicethis can be confusing.   

Social inclusion - Activities in support of including marginalised individuals or groups.

Spiritual care - A holistic, person-centred approach to care, allied with arts in health, that supports psychological, social, and existential wellbeing.

Support for caregivers - Arts in health strategies aimed at providing relief and support to both formal and informal caregivers.

Support for care recipients - Arts activities aimed at improving the wellbeing of individuals receiving care, in hospitals, long-term care facilities, and home care.  

Therapeutic goals - Specific health outcomes that are goals in creative arts therapies. 

Value-based healthcare - An economic model of healthcare delivery that attempts to shift the value of healthcare from the healthcare provider to the patient, emphasizing outcomes and patient satisfaction as goals.

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