The role of collaborative working between the arts and care sectors in successfully delivering participatory arts activities for older people in residential care settings.

In the UK support for older people living in residential care to undertake meaningful activities is provided by Activities Co-ordinators. There is also a growing trend for care home providers to invite arts organisations into care settings to deliver a range of arts and cultural activities. These arts and cultural activities are delivered by Arts Facilitators, who are distinct from Activities Co-ordinators because their practice is specifically in an art form.

The impact of the arts in healthcare on patients and service users: A critical review.

This review provides an updated evaluation of the emerging body of literature on the value of the arts in healthcare settings. Internationally, there is growing interest in the use of the arts in the healthcare context supported by the number of research studies reported in the nursing and medical literature. There is evidence that arts interventions have positive effects on psychological and physiological outcomes on patients in a hospital environment.

Healthcare professionals' perceptions of the value and impact of the arts in healthcare settings: A critical review of the literature.

Background: Internationally there is growing interest in the use of the arts in the healthcare context evidenced by the number of research studies reported in the nursing and medical literature. Establishing successful projects in healthcare environments will to some extent be reliant on the cooperation of staff working in these settings: healthcare professionals and their cultural values will be the lynchpin in the relationship between the artists organising the activities and the patients. This review appraises healthcare professionals' perceptions of the value of the arts in healthcare settings, and the impact of the arts on healthcare professionals.

Social media use by patients with glaucoma: what can we learn?

Purpose: Much health-related information is available on the internet but its quality is known to be variable. This research aimed to analyse the ophthalmic content of social media platforms which has yet to be formally assessed.

Methods: Five online social media platforms were selected, the International Glaucoma Association (IGA) forum, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Patient Opinion.

The contribution of self-help/mutual aid groups to mental well-being.

This article explores the contribution of self-help/mutual aid groups to mental well-being. Self-help/mutual aid groups are self-organising groups where people come together to address a shared a health or social issue through mutual support. They are associated with a range of health and social benefits, but remain poorly understood.

Beyond the therapeutic: A Habermasian view of self-help groups' place in the public sphere.

Self-help groups in the United Kingdom continue to grow in number and address virtually every conceivable health condition, but they remain the subject of very little theoretical analysis. The literature to date has predominantly focused on their therapeutic effects on individual members. And yet they are widely presumed to fulfil a broader civic role and to encourage democratic citizenship.

[Systematic review of the uptake and design of action research in published nursing research, 2000-2005].

Action Research (AR) is promoted for health care development. A systematic review was undertaken to gain insight into the uptake and designs of practice-based AR. Empirical research papers from 2000 to 2005 were extracted from CINAHL, MEDLINE and British Nursing Index, and two specialist AR journals.

The lifespan and life-cycle of self-help groups: a retrospective study of groups in Nottingham, UK.

This article is based on an analysis of a practice database held by Self Help Nottingham, an organisation that supports local self-help groups. The database contains details of 936 groups that closed between 1982 and 2007. The aim of the study is to provide qualitative and descriptive quantitative information about the life-cycles of self-help groups, the problems that they face throughout their existence and the likelihood of different problems leading to their closure.

Self-help groups as mutual support: what do carers value?

The literature suggests that the United Kingdom, in common with Europe, North America, Canada and Scandinavia, has seen significant growth in single-issue self-help/mutual aid groups concerned with health and social care issues since the 1970s, but there is only ad hoc academic and policy interest in such groups in the United Kingdom. This article presents findings from a doctoral study with two self-help/mutual aid groups for carers in South-East England. The data are drawn from semistructured interviews with 15 active members which explored reasons for joining, benefits derived from membership, and perceived differences between support gained by membership and their relationship with professionals.