IDEAS institute

Currently from IDEAS Institute:


All too often older adults living in long term care settings spend time sitting in wheel chairs grouped around the nurses’ station, passively watching television, or listening to someone read the latest newspaper headlines.

Research from the fields of music and art therapy has clearly shown that active engagement of elders in appropriate music and art activities reduces anxiety and pain and increases feelings of self worth. Long term care homes that acknowledge the value of the arts often invite choirs, barbershop singers, or dance troupes to perform for the residents. This kind of passive activity has little carryover of positive affect past the show and often results in sleeping elders. The purpose of this project is to develop a CD based resource that helps recreation staff engage elders in meaningful activities, with a particular focus on involving outside arts groups that visit the home.



The focus of Phase I of this four-part project was to collect information from long-term care communities, artists, creative arts therapists, and arts organizations with the goal of creating resources to help these professionals better incorporate arts programming into long-term care. The partners of this project developed and disseminated a survey that examined the extent to which long-term care homes and arts organizations are providing arts programs led by professional artists or creative arts therapists that facilitate resident engagement—a cornerstone to quality of life.





IDEAS Institute has partnered with the Society for the Arts in Healthcare during the course of this project, and the Hulda B. & Maurice L. Rothschild Foundation is providing the funding. This project will soon begin the third phase of development. Please vist our recent projects page for more info.