Arts and Health
translated by CREAT from author: Camille Langlade, Francopresse.ca
source: https://francopresse.ca/societe/2024/01/11/des-visites-au-musee-sur-ordonnance/
FRANCOPRESSE – More and more studies are showing the benefits of museums for mental and physical health. So much that some doctors are prescribing visits to their patients.
“Art that feels good, art therapy, has been around for a very long time,” says Olivier Beauchet, full professor in the Department of Medicine at the Université de Montréal.
Visiting museums can reduce factors of ill-being, such as depression, and increase well-being, according to some studies.
What’s new is the knowledge of the effects of art on patients with cancer, serious pathologies or psychiatric conditions, notes the researcher.
Wellness and physical health
“The health benefits of art in general are most marked on mental health. Few studies have been carried out on actual physical health, but these have shown that there really are concrete positive effects on health,” continues Dr. Olivier Beauchet.
In particular, his team collaborated with the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal to study the possible positive effects on elderly subjects living at home.
“We demonstrated that regular weekly visits to the museum for three months, involving a variety of plastic art activities, not only improved people’s mental health, but also their physical health, by reducing the level of frailty,” notes the specialist.
An improvement in heart rate and general physical activity was also observed.
“We have a very strong positive emotion, then it generates a feeling, something more elaborate, of well-being. Then we have the understanding that something good is happening in our body, and then we touch on quality of life,” explains Dr. Beauchet.
These visits improve mental and physical health, but also social integration, “people’s social health”, he adds.
Museum prescriptions
Dr. Beauchet also took part in a study on museum prescriptions, an initiative supported by the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal and Médecins francophones du Canada (MFC).
“We tested the effect of a museum visit prescribed in a family doctor’s office. The person went to the museum once with three family members. Then we demonstrated that we were still improving people’s health.”
The Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa was the first museum in the country to participate in the Canada-wide Prescri-Nature program, launched by the BC Parks Foundation.
Art and nature therapies
The Prescri-Nature program (PaRx in English) is an initiative launched in British Columbia in 2020 by the BC Parks Foundation, which today extends to all provinces, but not yet to the territories.
The aim: to improve patients’ health by bringing them into contact with nature.
Doctors enrolled in the program can prescribe free visits to the Canadian Museum of Nature, free annual discovery passes to the Parks Canada network, or free or reduced-price access to sites in various Canadian cities, such as the Toronto Zoo.
It’s an opportunity to enjoy an artistic and sensitive experience.
PHOTO: CANADIAN MUSEUM OF NATURE
“We have sensory immersions, such as bird songs in our ornithological gallery,” points out Darcy Ferron, Vice President of Experience and Engagement at the Canadian Museum of Nature.
The facility has so far issued 200 passes prescribed by local health professionals, he reports.
The prescriptions grant admission to the Museum for one to three adults, who may be accompanied by children, for a maximum of five people. Admission includes special exhibitions.
Getting away from your everyday life
“There are many reasons why museums can be beneficial for health and well-being, and one of them is simply the opportunity to get away from your daily life,” comments Melissa Lem, Vancouver-based family physician and PaRx program director.
“If you see these great exhibits of historical wildlife or dinosaurs or historical artifacts from thousands or millions of years ago, it creates a sense of wonder and a connection to our world that we don’t always feel in our everyday lives.”
The specialist recalls the social benefits of such visits, whether made alone or in a group.
The specialist recalls the social benefits of such visits, whether made alone or in a group. “If you combine the awe-inspiring nature of museums and the opportunity to get away and socialize with other people with time spent in nature, even if it’s indoors, it could theoretically enhance the health benefits even more.”
Still marginal
Nevertheless, this kind of prescription remains marginal.
“It’s not yet part of everyday practice,” says Dr Olivier Beauchet. But we’re participating in the fact that we’re in the process of democratizing this idea […] The difficulty is that if I prescribe a visit as a doctor today, it will never be reimbursed by the health insurance system.”
For the Doctor, the work must be done with health and social services authorities to say: “If we demonstrate a positive effect, if you invest a dollar on the reimbursement of a visit, maybe you wouldn’t spend 10 on someone who arrives in the emergency room because they’re not feeling well and have health problems,” he says.
Health beyond illness
These therapies, which fall outside the traditional medical framework, offer a new way of looking at health.
“We generally see health through the lens of illness, which is logical. And when you’re not ill, you don’t measure health, you don’t appreciate health,” says Dr. Beauchet.
However, he points out that the World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.
For him, it’s important to focus on prevention and health promotion, going beyond the sick/non-sick divide.
“That’s what people want. What everyone wants today, in a society where health is pretty good and [where] we’ve made a lot of technical progress, where we understand diseases better, is to move towards quality of life, towards well-being”, he asserts.