Journal of Applied Arts & Health - Current Issue

This editorial discusses notions of the ‘anxious generation’ and highlights the rising mental health crisis among today’s youth, driven by social media, gaming, increased drug use and parental overprotection. Suggested reasons leading to mental health problems are the decline of free play and the rise of smartphone use. It is suggested that adolescent mental well-being has suffered as face-to-face interactions diminish and digital immersion increases. Further highlighted are the consequences of over-supervised upbringing, suggesting young people need room to grow, explore and learn from failure. Nevertheless, Generation Z has shown resilience, proving their capabilities during crises, illustrating that despite the challenges they face, they should not be pathologized. Asserted is that integrating more art into education could foster resilience, emphasizing the importance of balanced, supportive approaches to youth development in today’s complex environment. The editorial introduces the current journal issue’s content, which covers a range of research projects, interviews and reviews.

Critical positive youth development (CPYD) is a promising framework for supporting young people in strengths-based ways to both thrive individually and address structural foundations of social inequity. This literature review explores community music for operationalizing CPYD. Database searches were supplemented with expert consultation and handsearching of identified articles and key journals. The authors used a purposive sampling strategy within a critical interpretive synthesis methodology to select 50 articles exploring outcomes of community music programmes with young people. They synthesized findings from these 50 cross-disciplinary studies to illuminate outcomes across the CPYD framework: competence, confidence, compassion, connection, character, contribution and critical consciousness. This study affirms the use of community music in contexts of youth development and implications for health and arts practitioners and researchers are discussed in relation to using music as a potential approach for CPYD to address social inequity with young people. Findings highlight the need for increased art-based research that explores how community music can support equity.

This article reports on the learning from a series of workshops organized by the Seeing Arts Health Research EnacteD (SHARED) project that aimed to establish an international network of researchers, arts and health providers and practitioners. Online workshops were designed to provide a platform for exchange of best practices in arts in health research and to encourage a dialogue between various international arts in health researchers and practitioners from six countries across the globe. This exchange was built on participant contributions (three practice-based presentations for each workshop highlighting alignment with community assets, inclusion and partnerships), followed by reflective group discussions. Results show that arts in health initiatives in different contexts globally often share similar strengths and face common challenges. Participants noted the need for networks such as SHARED, where researchers and practitioners can come together to exchange best practice, collaborate on future initiatives and work out solutions for shared challenges.

This visual essay explores the intersection of walking, art-making and well-being, documented over six months of biweekly walks along the shoreline of Burrard Inlet in Port Moody, British Columbia, Canada. Engaging with the intertwined paths of movement and artistic expression, the authors delve into a reflective practice that harmonizes the act of walking with the pursuit of emotional well-being. The journey unfolds as a correspondence – with one another, with the environment, and with one’s inner selves – facilitated by the rhythmic interplay of footsteps, sketches and photographs. This evolving narrative interweaves individual experiences with collective stories, showcasing walking as an embodied practice that fosters resilience and adaptability. By immersing themselves in the shoreline’s literal and metaphorical landscape, the authors uncover a dynamic way to understand and enhance well-being, indicating a holistic strategy to navigate the complexities of life.

In this interview with Dr Tamar Einstein, she talks about her work over the past 37 years transversing the boundaries between East and West Jerusalem, between the Arab and Jewish sectors, working as an expressive arts therapist. Over these years she has woven her deep beliefs in the power of art to transcend boundaries and bring communities together. She speaks of the current difficulties in the region and the attempts to keep working towards peaceful coexistence. In line with her work as an art-based weaver she talks about her dissertation research that focused on creating a multicultural coat with all the symbols of the land she lives in, including a Tallit (Jewish prayer shawl), a keffiyeh (Arab headdress), the Gay Pride flag, the Palestinian flag and the Israeli flag. Throughout the article she emphasizes art is her mother tongue guiding messages in her clinical and academic life.

Reported of: Exploring Musical Crossroads: A Symposium Bridging Malaysia and Japan, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 26 March 2024

Review of: Art Psychotherapy Groups in the Hostile Environment of Neoliberalism: Collusion or Resistance?, Sally Skaife and Jon Martyn (eds) (2022)

New York: Routledge, 220 pp.,

ISBN 978-0-36761-984-8, p/bk, $36.95