O17 Engaging displaced people in artistic and cultural activities using participatory action research

Background Many European organisations provide creative activities for displaced people, including refugees and asylum seekers, that aim to reduce social isolation and counter prevalent mental health issues including anxiety, depression, non-affective psychosis and post-traumatic stress disorder.1-3 A growing body of evidence suggests that taking part in „artistic and cultural activities benefits human health and wellbeing,4-6 though this research has been mostly non-collaborative in nature. Although creative activities are seen to provide major benefits for displaced people, researchers need to become ‘increasingly conscious of the value of recording and analysing what has been happening’ [7 p1] to make effective use of a limited service provision. Aim The aim was to develop a participatory action research (PAR) method for engaging displaced people to collaboratively assess the full impact of arts and cultural interventions. Methods A researcher spent five months in a London-based charity conducting a study following PAR principles of observation, focus groups and in-depth semi-structured interviews. Participants acting as ‘co-researchers’ comprised refugees and asylum seekers (n=7), charity staff (n=8) and volunteers (n=7). Results During focus groups, participants articulated their reflections on the impact of creative activities around three main themes of skills, social engagement, and personal emotions. Interviews based upon these themes showed that artistic and cultural activities impacted positively on participants by helping them to find a voice, create a support network, and learn practical skills useful in the labour market. Conclusions The study expanded on arts and wellbeing research by exploring the effects of cultural and creative activities on the psychosocial wellbeing of refugees and asylum seekers. By focusing on the relationship between arts, wellbeing and forced displacement, the study was instrumental in actively trying to change the narrative surrounding refugees and asylum seekers often depicted in negative terms in the public sphere.8 References Katona C. Non-affective psychosis in refugees. Br Med J2016;352:i1279. doi:10.1136/bmj.i1279. Hollander A, Dal H, Lewis G, et al. Refugee migration and risk of schizophrenia and other non-affective psychoses: Cohort study of 1.3 million people in Sweden. Br Med J 2016;352:i1030.https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i1030. Robjant K, Robbins I, Senior V. Psychological distress amongst immigration detainees: A cross-sectional questionnaire study. Brit J Clin Psych 2009;48:275–286. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466508X397007. Camic P, Chatterjee H. Museums and art galleries as partners for public health interventions. Perspect Public Health2013;133:66–77. Chatterjee H. Museums and art galleries as settings for public health interventions. In S Clift, P Camic (Eds.), Oxford Textbook of Creative Arts, Health, and Wellbeing: International Perspectives on Practice, Policy and Research. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2016; p.281–289. Clift S, Skingley A, Coulton S, Rodriguez J. The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a participative community singing programme as a health promotion initiative for older people: Protocol for a randomised controlled trial. BMC Public Health 2011;11:1–6. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-11-142. Kidd B, Zahir S, Khan S. Arts and Refugees: History, Impact and Future. London: Arts Council England, 2008. https://baringfoundation.org.uk/wp content/uploads/2014/10/ArtsandRefugees.pdf. Khosravi S. ‘Illegal‘ Traveller: An Auto-ethnography of Borders. Basingstoke: „Palgrave MacMillan 2010.