Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Drama and Theatre for Health and Well-Being

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Good Health and Well-Being

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals ((ENUNSDG))

  • 475 Accesses

Synonyms

Applied drama; Applied theatre; Arts on prescription; Clown; Cultural commissioning; Drama therapy; Social prescribing

Definition

Drama and theatre for health and well-being is a constellation of ideas, practices, and approaches which are intentionally engaged for health and well-being benefits, ranging from explicitly therapeutic interventions to group-based activity more resonant of cultural activity.

Introduction

The rock art of indigenous communities from 20,000 years ago has been interpreted as early indications of how humans have connected performance, in a broad sense, with the health and well-being of their communities (Fleischer and Grehan 2016). Now, at a global level, there is increasing recognition that drama and theatre can facilitate a variety of health and well-being outcomes for an extensive range of groups, not predetermined by affluence or socioeconomic status (APPG 2017). In a broad sense, drama and theatre are a constellation of arts-based practices,...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Alzeimer’s Society (2013) Guidance for communities registering for the recognition process for dementia-friendly communities. Alzeimer’s Society, London

    Google Scholar 

  • American Journal of Play (2009) Play, healing, and wellness as seen by a Physician who clowns: an interview with Bowen White. Am J Play. Summer Issue 2(1), pp 1–12

    Google Scholar 

  • APPG All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing (2017) Creative health: the arts for health and wellbeing. [Online] Available at: http://www.artshealthandwellbeing.org.uk/appg-inquiry/. Accessed 24 Nov 2017

  • Arts Education Partnership (2011) Music matters: how music education helps students learn, achieve, and succeed. Washington, DC; and National Association of Music Merchants. (n.d.). Why learn to play MUSIC?

    Google Scholar 

  • Arveklev S, Wigert H, Berg L, Burton B, Lepp M (2015) The use and application of drama in nursing education – an integrative review of the literature. Nurse Educ Today 35:e12–e17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Asghar M, Rowe N (2018) Learning from the unfamiliar: how does working with people who use mental health services impact on students’ learning and development? J Furth High Educ 42(3):339–351

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker K, Irving A (2016) Co-producing approaches to the management of dementia through social prescribing. Soc Policy Adm 50(3):379–397

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barnes J (2012) Promoting social and personal wellbeing in 5–7 year olds through the ‘Speech Bubbles’ drama project. Sidney De Haan Research Centre for The Arts and Health, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnes H (ed) (2014) Arts activism, education, and therapies – transforming communities across Africa. Rodopi, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnes J (2015) Speech bubbles: an evaluation of the 2013–14 extended programme funded by the Shine Trust. Sidney De Haan Research Centre for The Arts and Health, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Beard RL (2012) Art therapies and dementia care: a systematic review. Dement Int J Soc Res Pract 11(5):633–656

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernard M, Rickett M, Amigoni D, Munro L, Murray M et al (2015) Ages and stages: the place of theatre in the lives of older people. Ageing Soc 35(6):1119–1145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bertini M, Isola E, Paolone G, Curcio G (2011) Clowns benefit children hospitalized for respiratory pathologies. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. https://doi.org/10.1093/ecam/neq064

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bertotti M, Frostick C, Hutt P, Sohanpal R, Carnes D (2017) A realist evaluation of social prescribing: an exploration into the context and mechanisms underpinning a pathway linking primary care with the voluntary sector. Prim Health Care Res Dev. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1463423617000706

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bickerdike L, Booth A, Wilson PM, Farley K, Wright K (2017) Social prescribing: less rhetoric and more reality. A systematic review of the evidence. BMJ Open 7(4):e013384. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013384

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boal A (1979) Theatre of the oppressed. Pluto Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolton G, Ihanus J (2011) Conversation about poetry/writing therapy: two European perspectives. J Poet Ther 24(3):167–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braidotti R (2013) The posthuman. Polity Press, Cambridge, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • British Medical Association (2011) The psychological and social needs of patients. British Medical Association Science & Education, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Cann PL (2017) Arts and cultural activity: a vital part of the health and care system. Australas J Ageing 36(2): 89–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carnes D, Sohanpal R, Frostick C, Hull S, Mathur R, Netuveli G, … Tong J (2017) The impact of a social prescribing service on patients in primary care: a mixed methods evaluation. BMC Health Serv Res 171–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Cilliers J (2009) Clowning on the pulpit? Contours of a comic vision on preaching. Scriptura 101:189–197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CWB (2016) Clowns without borders international: annual report. http://www.cwb-international.org/wp-content/uploads/Clowns-Without-Borders-Annual-Report-2016.pdf

  • Dementia Friends (2018) Dementia friends. Available at https://www.dementiafriends.org.uk/, Accessed 10 Apr 2018

  • Department of Health (2004) Choosing health: making healthy choices easier. Department of Health, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Dionigi A, Canestrari C (2016) Clowning in health care settings: the point of view of adults. Eur J Psychol 12(3):473–488. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v12i3.1107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dvory A, Goshen Y, Ruimi S, Bikov S, Halevy R, Koren A (2016) Dream doctor intervention instead of sedation: performing radionuclide scanning without sedation in young children: a study in 142 patients. J Altern Complement Med 22:408–412

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Etherton M, Prentki T (2006) Drama for change? Prove it! Impact assessment in applied theatre. Res Drama Educ J Appl Theatr Perform 11(2):139–155

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fleischer S, Grehan M (2016) The arts and health: moving beyond traditional medicine. J Appl Arts Health 7(1):93–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foot J (2012) What makes us healthy? Available at: http://www.assetbasedconsulting.co.uk/uploads/publications/wmuh.pdf

  • Foucault M (2001) Madness and civilization: a history of insanity in the age of reason (trans: Howard R). Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedler S, Glasser S, Azani L, Freedman LS, Raziel A, Strassburger D, Lerner-Geva L (2011) The effect of medical clowning on pregnancy rates after in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVFET). Fertil Steril 95(6):2127–2130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gordon J, Shenarb Y, Pendzik S (2017) Clown therapy: a drama therapy approach to addiction and beyond. Arts Psychother 57:88–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goulding A (2014) Arts on prescription for older people: different stakeholder perspectives on the challenges of providing evidence of impact on health outcomes. J Appl Arts Health 5(1):83–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greene M (1995) Releasing the imagination – essays on education, the arts, and social change

    Google Scholar 

  • Gruber A, Levin R, Lichtenberg P (2015) Medical clowning and psychosis: a case report and theoretical review. Isr J Psychiatry Relat Sci 52(3):20–23

    Google Scholar 

  • Harries B, Keady J, Swarbrick C (2013) The Storybox Project: examining the role of a theatre and arts-based intervention for people with dementia. University of Manchester, Manchester

    Google Scholar 

  • Hatton N (2018, forthcoming) Theatre and dementia: a cultural response to care. Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire

    Google Scholar 

  • Health Education England (2016) More than heritage: a museum directory of social prescribing and wellbeing activity in North West England. Health Education England, Manchester

    Google Scholar 

  • Jensen A, Stickley T, Torrissen W, Stigmar K (2017) Arts on prescription in Scandinavia: a review of current practice and future possibilities. Perspect Public Health 137(5):268–274

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kay J (2010) Obliquity: why our goals are best achieved indirectly. Profile Books, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Koller D, Gryski C (2008) The life threatened child and the life enhancing clown: towards a model of therapeutic clowning. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 5(1):17–25. https://doi.org/10.1093/ecam/nem033

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kontos P, Miller K-L, Colobong R, Lazgare LIP, Binns M, Low LF, Surr C, Naglie G (2016) Elder-clowning in long-term dementia care: results of a pilot study. JAGS 64:347–353. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.13941

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Linge L (2013) Joyful and serious intentions in the work of hospital clowns: a meta-analysis based on a 7-year research project conducted in three parts. Int J Qual Stud Health Well-Being 8:18907. https://doi.org/10.3402/qhw.v8i0.18907

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Low LF, Brodaty H, Goodenough B, Spitzer P, Bell JP, Fleming R, Chenoweth L (2013) The Sydney Multisite Intervention of Laughter Bosses and Elder Clowns (SMILE) study: cluster randomised trial of humour therapy in nursing homes. BMJ Open 3(1):e002072. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2012-002072

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maeve C, Pentergast M (2014) Applied theatre – international case studies and challenges for practice. Intellect Books, Bristol

    Google Scholar 

  • Makin S, Gask L (2012) ‘Getting back to normal’: the added value of an art-based programme in promoting ‘recovery’ for common but chronic mental health problems. Chronic Illn 8(1):64–75. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742395311422613

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malone N, Redgrave D (2016) Keeping memories alive: creativity in dementia care, alternatives to pharmacotherapy. In: Bruno D (ed) The preservation of memory. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Mann F, Bone JK, Lloyd-Evans B, Frerichs J, Pinfold V, Ma R, Wang J, Johnson S (2017) A life less lonely: the state of the art in interventions to reduce loneliness in people with mental health problems. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 52(6):627–638. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-017-1392-y

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maughan DL, Patel A, Parveen T, Braithwaite I, Cook J, Lillywhite R, Cooke M (2016) Primary-care-based social prescribing for mental health: an analysis of financial and environmental sustainability. Prim Health Care Res Dev 17(2):114–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayo S (2014) Stories without numbers, (TED Talk) [Online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgfQ8FUletg. Accessed 3 Jan 2018

  • Menzer M (2015) The arts in early childhood – social and emotional benefits of arts participation: a literature review and GAP analysis (2000–2015). Office of Research & Analysis, National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • NHS Highland (2012) Creative routes to health. Available online at https://artshealthnetwork.ca/sites/default/files/art-creative-routes-to-health_0.pdf. Accessed 25 Apr 2018

  • Oliver M (2013) The social model of disability: thirty years on. Disabil Soc 28:7 pages. 1024–1026

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Organ K (2016) A new form of theatre: older people’s involvement in theatre and drama. The Baring Foundation, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Österlind E (2011) Forum play – a Swedish mixture for consciousness and change. In: Schonmann IS (ed) Key concepts in theatre/drama education. Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, pp 247–251

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Österlind E (2012) Emotions – aesthetics – education. Dilemmas related to students’ commitment in education for sustainable development. J Artist Creat Educ 6:32–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Pässilä A, Owens A, Kuusipalo-Määttä, Oikarinen, Benmergui (2017) Beyond text: the co-creation of dramatised character and iStory. J Work Appl Manag 9(2):159–169

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peacock L (2014) Serious play: modern clown performance. Intellect Books Ltd, Bristol, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Peacock L (2016) Sending laughter around the world. Humor 29(2):223–241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pescheny JV, Pappas Y, Randhawa G (2018) Facilitators and barriers of implementing and delivering social prescribing services: a systematic review. BMC Health Serv Res 18(1):86. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-018-2893-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Public Health England (2016) Arts for health and wellbeing: an evaluation framework. Public Health England, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Rämgård M, Carlson E, Mangrio E (2016) Strategies for diversity: medical clowns in dementia care – an ethnographic study. BMC Geriatr 16:152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Räthzel N, Uzzell D (2009) Transformative environmental education: a collective rehearsal for reality. Environ Educ Res 15(3):263–277

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rossetti L, Wall L (2017) The impact of story: measuring the impact of story for organisational change. J Work-Appl Manag 9(2):170–184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rowe N (2015) Creating a healing campus: a partnership between a university and a provider of mental health services. In: Cozza B, Blessinger P (eds) University partnerships for community and school system development. Innovations in higher education teaching and learning, vol 5. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Bingley, UK, pp 119–134

    Google Scholar 

  • Rowe N, Forshaw N, Alldred G (2013) A return to ordinariness: how does working alongside people who use mental health service effect theatre students’ attitudes to mental illness? J Appl Arts Health 4(2):151–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider J (2017) Evaluation of the impact on audiences of inside out of mind, research-based theatre for dementia carers. Arts Health 9(3):238–250

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sextou P (2016) Theatre for children in hospital: the gift of compassion. Intellect, Bristol

    Google Scholar 

  • Shrivastava P, Ivanaj V, Ivanaj S (2012) Sustainable development and the arts. Int J Technol Manag 60(1/2): 23–43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sridharan K, Sivaramakrishnan G (2016) Therapeutic clowns in pediatrics: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Eur J Pediatr 175:1353–1360

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stickley T, Eades M (2013) Arts on prescription: a qualitative outcomes study. Public Health 127(8):727–734. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2013.05.001

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stickley T, Hui A (2012a) Social prescribing through arts on prescription in a UK city: participants’ perspectives (Part 1). Public Health (Elsevier) 126(7):574–579

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stickley T, Hui A (2012b) Social prescribing through arts on prescription in a UK city: referrers perspectives (Part 2). Public Health 126(7):580–586

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stokes P, Smith S, Wall T, Moore N, Rowland C, Ward T, Cronshaw S (2018) Resilience and the (micro-) dynamics of organizational ambidexterity: implications for strategic HRM. Int J Hum Resour Manag 1–36. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09585192.2018.1474939

  • Svanström M, Lozano-García FJ, Rowe D (2008) Learning outcomes for sustainable development in higher education. Int J Sustain High Educ 9(3):339–351

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tener D, Lev-Wiesel R, Franco NL, Ofir S (2010) Laughing through this pain: medical clowning during examination of sexually abused children: an innovative approach. J Child Sex Abus 19:128–140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tener D, Lang N, Ofir S, Lev-Wiesel R (2012) The use of medical clowns as a psychological distress buffer during anogenital examination of sexually abused children. J Loss Trauma 17:12–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomson LJ, Camic P, Chatterjee H (2015) Social prescribing: a review of community referral schemes. University College London, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Torrissen W (2015) ‘Better than medicine’: theatre and health in the contemporary Norwegian context. J Appl Arts Health 6(2):149–170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tran LT, Wall T (2018, forthcoming) Ubuntu in adult vocational education: theoretical discussion and implications for teaching international students. Int Rev Educ. forthcoming

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Blerkom LM (1995) Clown doctors: shaman healers of Western medicine. Med Anthropol Q, New Series 9(4):462–475

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Viggiano MP, Giganti F, Rossi A, Di Feo D, Vagnoli L, Calcagno G et al (2015) Impact of psychological interventions on reducing anxiety, fear and the need for sedation in children undergoing magnetic resonance imaging. Pediatr Rep 7(1):5682. https://doi.org/10.4081/pr.2015.5682

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wall T (2016a) Author response: provocative education: from the Dalai Lama’s Cat® to Dismal Land®. Stud Philos Educ 35(6):649–653

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wall T (2016b) Reviving the ubuntu spirit in landscapes of practice: evidence from deep within the forest. J Work-Appl Manag 8(1):95–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wall T, Russell J, Moore N (2017) Positive emotion in workplace impact: the case of a work-based learning project utilising appreciative inquiry. J Work Appl Manag 9(2):129–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wall T, Clough D, Österlind E, Hindley A (2018a, forthcoming) Conjuring a spirit for sustainability: a review of the socio-materialist effects of provocative pedagogies. In: Leal Filho W (ed) Sustainability in higher education – world sustainability series. Springer, Dordrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • Wall T, Österlind E, Fries J (2018b, forthcoming) Arts based approaches to sustainability. In: Leal Filho W (ed) Encyclopaedia of sustainability in higher education. Springer, Cham

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang W-J (2017) Combating global issues of land reform, urbanisation and climate change with local community theatre devising and praxes in Taiwan. Res Drama Educ J Appl Theatr Perform 22(4):506–509

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weintraub Y, Rabinowicz N, Hanuka P, Rothschild M, Kotzki S, Uziel Y et al (2014) Medical clowns facilitate nitrous oxide sedation during intra-articular corticosteroid injection for juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Isr Med Assoc J 16:771–773

    Google Scholar 

  • Whelan G (2016) A social return on investment: evaluation of the St Helens creative alternatives arts on prescription programme. John Moores University, Liverpool

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitelaw S, Thirlwall C, Morrison A, Osborne J, Tattum L, Walker S (2017) Developing and implementing a social prescribing initiative in primary care: insights into the possibility of normalisation and sustainability from a UK case study. Prim Health Care Res Dev 18(2):112–121. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1463423616000219

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • WHO (2013) Mental health action plan 2013–2020. World Health Organization, Switzerland

    Google Scholar 

  • WHO (2018) Dementia. Available at http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs362/en/. Accessed 10 Apr 2018

  • Wilkinson F, MacLeod A, Skinner MW, Reid H (2013) Visible voices: expressive arts with isolated seniors using trained volunteers. Arts Health Int J Res Policy Pract 5(3):230–237

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolyniez I, Rimon A, Scolnik D, Gruber A, Tavor A, Haviv E, Glatstein M (2013) The effect of a medical clown on pain during intravenous access in the pediatric emergency department: a randomized prospective pilot study. Clin Pediatr 52(12):1168–1172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zarobe L, Bungay H (2017) The role of arts activities in developing resilience and mental wellbeing in children and young people a rapid review of the literature. Perspect Public Health 137(6):337–347

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Thriving at Work Research Centre, University of Chester, Chester, UK

    Tony Wall

  2. Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Education, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Julia Fries & Eva Österlind

  3. Converge, York St John University, York, UK

    Nick Rowe

  4. Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, UK

    Niamh Malone

Authors
  1. Tony Wall
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Julia Fries
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Nick Rowe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Niamh Malone
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Eva Österlind
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tony Wall .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. FTZ-ALS, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences FTZ-ALS, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Centre for Work Related Studies, University of Chester, Chester, UK

    Tony Wall

  3. University of Aveiro , Aveiro, Portugal

    Ulisses Azeiteiro

  4. Ctr Neurosci & Cell Biology, 1 Floor, Univ Coimbra, Edf Fac Medicina, Coimbra, Portugal

    Anabela Marisa Azul

  5. Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo University Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo, Brazil

    Luciana Brandli

  6. Ozyegin University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Pinar Gökcin Özuyar

Section Editor information

  1. International Centre for Thriving at Work, University of Chester, Chester, Cheshire, UK

    Tony Wall

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Wall, T., Fries, J., Rowe, N., Malone, N., Österlind, E. (2019). Drama and Theatre for Health and Well-Being. In: Leal Filho, W., Wall, T., Azeiteiro, U., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Özuyar, P. (eds) Good Health and Well-Being. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69627-0_14-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69627-0_14-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69627-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69627-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation