"Creative activities as a health-giving social prescription": Reflections from our second discussion session

Summary of the TOUS study 

The TOUS study (Tailoring cultural offers with and for diverse older users of social prescribing) aims to explore how cultural offers are being shaped and provided for older people from global majority groups. Specifically, we seek to understand the barriers and enablers to successfully engaging these communities with cultural/creative activities. Our research focuses on providing meaningful and inclusive cultural offers, fostering connections, and understanding the preferences and requirements of older people from diverse backgrounds. As part of the study, we are using an approach called Storytelling, which seeks to explore what has meaning for people taking part in an activity or event, from their own perspective. It involves talking to them and then condensing their story into a two-page summary (retaining their original words). It also involves sharing and discussing stories with a range of stakeholders to identify, together, key things to take and learn from them. We have been trained in this approach and supported with this work by colleagues from the Old Fire Station in Oxford. 

Our second discussion session

On 19^th November 2024, we held a second knowledge exchange event (discussion session) to share and talk about stories collected from ten people involved with the elders’ programme at a theatre in the north of England. Stories were collected from older people from ethnic minority groups, staff working at the organisation and artists involved with outreach programmes. Despite the first snowfall of the season causing some disruption of travel, the event was attended by 24 participants, including seven storytellers and people working in organisations in related fields (e.g. in social prescribing or working with older people).

Discussion sessions are a key element of the six steps involved in the Storytelling method. They provide the opportunity for learning from multiple perspectives, rather than just the research team, about what the stories show. This type of collaborative analysis is particularly valuable in the TOUS study as we are seeking to gain insight from diverse communities, in terms of ethnicity, age, gender and other intersectional characteristics, about why someone might or might not be able to engage with a creative opportunity and what might make them want to persist with or give up this activity. The day was very insightful and informative about elements of the stories that participants felt were most important.

The range of benefits to storytellers of taking part in the performance activities offered were emphasized. These included improvements in mental and physical health and wellbeing, due to increased confidence and sense of belonging. One storyteller explained that their visits to the GP had reduced because of their involvement with the theatre. These benefits were stimulated by social connections built, but also by the nature of performance which encouraged self-expression and exploration of identity. This was particularly helpful for storytellers who had experienced multiple instances of exclusion or discrimination during their lives, or who had not had the opportunity to engage with their own creativity due to work or caring responsibilities. Storytellers emphasised that the safe space provided by the organisation allowed them to explore and confront these challenges. The importance of allies and experienced facilitators who understood and could support people facing such obstacles was also highlighted.

Debra Westlake running the feedback session

Reflections about Storytelling as a method

During the session, we asked for feedback on Storytelling as a method. The following points were raised:

• Storytellers were glad of the opportunity to tell their story and happy to read other people’s stories. The richness of the stories and wealth of experiences shared within them was appreciated.
• Discussion session participants who were also members of the elders’ company, but who were not storytellers themselves, valued the opportunity to understand experiences of their peers through the stories. They said the stories revealed different perspectives on, for example, cultural and religious diversity and the barriers other members had experienced to participation in the cultural activities. They commented that they would not otherwise have been exposed to these experiences or understand them in the same way. One member called this a “window into other cultures”.
• The stories of change were felt to be compelling and interesting to read. Participants said that such stories brought to life the impact of taking part in cultural activities; they presented ideas in a more complex and creative format, better aligned to cultural activities than other types of evaluation methods such as surveys or questionnaires.

 Impact of the discussion session

A representative of a national social prescribing organisation attending the discussion session found the stories particularly useful in illustrating health and wellbeing benefits of cultural sector social prescriptions. As a result, a meeting is being organised to explain these benefits to social prescribing link workers in the area with the hope that they might consider connecting patients to these resources. Artists and facilitators from the theatre where stories were collected found it beneficial to have time to hear about impacts of their activities and commented they would carry forward some of these learning points when planning future work.

Closing remarks from a storyteller

To close the blog, here is a poem produced by one of the storytellers to describe their experience of being involved with the theatre.

Thank you to all the people who were storytellers and/or took part in the dissemination event described in this blog. Thank you also to the cultural organisation that acted as a site for data collection and hosted this dissemination event.

The study mentioned in this blog is funded by a grant from UK Research and Innovation (MR/Y010000/1). The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the funder or the author’s host institution.