1.2 Methodology

However, developments in this field have largely had a national focus, aiming to influence policy and practice in individual countries, with only limited examples of cross-country influence (44). This means that there has been little consistency in policy development or even in sharing good practice, and many efforts of individual countries have remained short term rather than being long lasting. This report, therefore, seeks to map the growing evidence base on the arts and health that has arisen since the start of 2000 and proposes a set of policy considerations that will promote the cohesion and longevity of policy development in this field.

For WHO, the increasing interest from arts sectors in health is particularly timely and dovetails with a number of important developments in the global health policy arena. Building on the Health in All Policies approach articulated in the early 2000s, Health 2020, the European health policy framework, highlights the importance of multisectoral collaboration for catalysing action (45). This strategic shift has been further underlined by the recently published WHO Thirteenth General Programme of Work 2019–2023 (46), which also promotes a greater focus on both well-being and increasing human capital throughout the life-course. Furthermore, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (47) includes supporting good health and well-being, providing quality education, building sustainable cities and communities, encouraging decent work and economic growth, and working in partnership. All of these goals, priorities and approaches are integral parts of engaging with the arts, increasing the cultural capital within societies and potentially helping to promote resilience, equity, health and well-being across the life-course. Finally, because they operate simultaneously on the individual and social, as well as physical and mental, levels, arts-based health interventions are uniquely placed to address the full complexity of the challenges that being healthy and well are increasingly recognized to present.

This scoping review addressed a broad synthesis question with the priority of gaining an expansive picture of the available evidence. Therefore, it focused specifically on the results from meta-analyses, meta-syntheses and meta-ethnographies. However, it also includes references to the results of individual studies and some grey literature. In particular, this report did not aim to discriminate between different research methodologies or methods but instead includes a diverse range of evidence in order to highlight both the depth and the breadth of research in this field.

Annex 1 gives details of the methodology, including the search strategy and keywords used for the arts and health.