CORAL Research Agenda

Effectiveness of a creative arts program to improving psychological health and resilience of frontline healthcare providers

We are developing and testing a series of creative arts programs designed to build resilience among critical care & emergency medicine professionals. The programs will use qualitative, mixed-method, and randomized controlled study designs and will integrate visual arts therapy, music therapy, dance/movement therapy, and creative writing/poetry. Research activities will include focus groups of important stakeholders, such as healthcare providers, unit managers and hospital administrators, national critical care leadership, and arts therapy experts.

Organization partners include Ponzio Creative Arts Therapy Program at Children's Hospital Colorado and Lighthouse Writers Workshop. These organizations will design experimental tasks suitable for each artistic domain and hold group sessions with participants.

The research agenda will address the following research questions:

• What changes in physical or mental health outcomes are experienced by subjects participating in creative arts programs?
• What are the comparative therapeutic benefits of creative arts programs relative to each other or to non-arts-based interventions?

Sponsor: National Endowment for the Arts