Population health and community health: brokering the two through art and community engagement.

The arts and aesthetic experiences have fostered and enhanced relationships between diverse, distinct groups in an effort to build comradery, trust, and engagement. In regards to collaborations between health systems and communities, taking into account strategies to build such relationships is vital in an effort to assure a bidirectional collaboration that implements public health insight and resources effectively. There are many factors warranting consideration when building effective community engagement for health promotion between healthcare systems and local community organizations and residents.

Supporting youth mental health with arts-based strategies: a global perspective.

The devastating impact of youth mental health concerns is increasingly evident on a global scale. This crisis calls for innovative solutions that are sufficiently accessible, scalable, and cost-effective to support diverse communities around the world. One such solution involves engagement in the arts: incorporating and building upon existing local resources and cultural practices to bolster youth mental health.

The impact thinking framework: a process for advancing research-to-practice initiatives in neuroaesthetics.

Neuroaesthetics research explores brain, body and behavioral responses to engagement with the arts and other aesthetic sensory experiences. Evidence indicates that such experiences can help address various psychological, neurological and physiological disorders, and that they can support mental and physical well-being and learning in the general population. The interdisciplinary nature of this work contributes to its impact and promise; however, it also creates challenges as various disciplines approach and define research and practice in varied ways.

Effects of Setting on Psychedelic Experiences, Therapies, and Outcomes: A Rapid Scoping Review of the Literature.

The health and well-being impacts of art and aesthetic experiences have been rigorously studied by a range of disciplines, including cognitive neuroscience, psychiatry, public health, and translational clinical research. These experiences, encompassed in the concepts of set and setting, have long been claimed to be pivotal in determining the acute and enduring effects of psychedelic experiences. Responding to the field's longstanding emphasis on the role and value of setting, a rapid scoping review was undertaken to identify the extent to which effects of setting and aesthetics on psychedelic experiences and therapies have been explicitly studied.

Generating youth dialogue through the literary arts: A citywide youth health collaboration in the U.S.

A process and outcomes evaluation was conducted of a citywide literary-arts initiative designed to reduce stigma, amplify underrepresented narratives, and generate dialogue about violence. Over 4 months, students in 85 middle schools read a novel addressing mental health and violence-related themes. As a collaboration between a public school district and public library system, the program's classroom activities emphasized dialogue, while coordinated library events supported community engagement.

The State of Music-Based Interventions for Mental Illness: Thought Leaders on Barriers, Opportunities, and the Value of Interdisciplinarity.

Hundreds of studies regarding music's effects on mental health have accumulated across multiple disciplines; however, access to and application of music as a support for mental health remains limited, due in part to the multidisciplinary nature of related research and difficulties synthesizing findings. This qualitative study is the first to address these barriers by gathering current thought leaders and stakeholders at intersections of music and mental health, representing multiple disciplines and backgrounds, to (1) document understandings of and recommendations for the field, and (2) examine how views converge or conflict. Participants (n = 36) viewed preliminary results of a global scoping review, then engaged in focus groups which were transcribed and de-identified for analysis.

The Use of Music in the Treatment and Management of Serious Mental Illness: A Global Scoping Review of the Literature.

Mental and substance use disorders have been identified as the leading cause of global disability, and the global burden of mental illness is concentrated among those experiencing disability due to serious mental illness (SMI). Music has been studied as a support for SMIs for decades, with promising results; however, a lack of synthesized evidence has precluded increased uptake of and access to music-based approaches. The purpose of this scoping review was to identify the types and quantity of research at intersections of music and SMIs, document evidentiary gaps and opportunities, and generate recommendations for improving research and practice.

Outcomes of Visual Self-Expression in Virtual Reality on Psychosocial Well-Being With the Inclusion of a Fragrance Stimulus: A Pilot Mixed-Methods Study.

Aims: In this pilot mixed-methods study, we examined the participants experiences of engaging in virtual drawing tasks and the impact of an olfactory stimulus (calming fragrance blend) on outcomes of affect, stress, self-efficacy, anxiety, creative agency, and well-being (satisfaction with life).

Methods: This study used a parallel mixed-methods, simple block randomization design. The study participants included 24 healthy adults aged 18 to 54 years, including 18 women and six men.

Your Brain on Art: The Case for Neuroaesthetics.

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Neuroscience and education: an ideal partnership for producing evidence-based solutions to Guide 21(st) Century Learning.

Neuro-Education is a nascent discipline that seeks to blend the collective fields of neuroscience, psychology, cognitive science, and education to create a better understanding of how we learn and how this information can be used to create more effective teaching methods, curricula, and educational policy. Though still in its infancy as a research discipline, this initiative is already opening critical new dialog between teachers, administrators, parents, and brain scientists.