ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book reviews the development of arts, health and well-being as an international field of research, policy and practice, suggesting that arts-based approaches can contribute to the transformation of health and care that is needed to meet future challenges. It identifies some of the challenges involved in bringing ‘arts’ and ‘health’ together, drawing on sociological perspectives to identify political, organisational and social processes that create barriers and opportunities for change. The book considers research findings that provide insights into the processes that shape participants’ experiences of arts in health and care. Research has increasingly demonstrated the health and well-being benefits across the life course of a wide variety of art forms, including music, visual arts, dance, drama and creative writing. The development of the field continues to be uneven, with a concentration of arts-based knowledge and practice in relatively affluent countries.
