UNA4CAREER
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement Nยบ 847635.
Department of Sculpture and Art Education
Faculty of Fine Arts
The Interuniversity Research Group of the Pedagogical Museum of Youth Art has developed a continuous line of work on the humanization of hospital environments through art. One of the first works developed within this line was the performance of an evaluation of the conditions of children in hospitals from the point of view of play and creativity. The investigations continued with the development of several projects between the Universities of Salamanca and Complutense of Madrid, with funding from the Ministry of Education and Science (ref. SEJ2004-07241-C02-00 / EDUC) and the Ministry of Education of the Board of Castilla y León (ref. SA056 / 04). The line of work was extended to include in the studies the evaluation of the situation of adolescents in hospitals, research that also obtained funding from the Ministry of Education (ref. EDU2008-05441-C02-00 / EDUC), the Ministry of Education of the Junta de Castilla y León (SA077A07) and by the Community of Madrid (UCM2005-930163). The research results have been applied in several hospitals, either in humanization programs through art and improvement of the adaptation of hospital centers to pediatric patients (University Hospital of Salamanca and extension of the proposal to other hospitals in Castilla y León), either in creative activity programs for hospitalized children and adolescents (Hospitals Gregorio Marañón and October 12, Madrid).
The infrastructures of the research group include the space and resources of the Pedagogical Museum for Children’s Art (MuPAI), a university museum located at the faculty of Fine Arts. Agreements have been made for researchers to be able to use the infrastructures of hospitals so as to implement the practical applications of the artistic activities.
The project is based on the hypothesis that participatory visual arts can improve the experience and quality of life of children and adolescents with health problems and their families, positively affecting issues such as coping, resilience and growth. The general objective of this project is, then, to assess the ability of participatory visual arts to promote the well-being of children and adolescents and their families when health problems necessitate their hospital care or continued medical care. The project is designed around 5 objectives: 1. Develop a protocol for the design of participatory visual arts activity programs that can be developed in hospitals and other health care contexts as a resource to support children with health problems and their families. 2. Implement the designed protocol and evaluate the effect of the participatory visual arts program on the well-being of children with fragile health conditions and their families, with special emphasis on the following aspects: satisfaction of participants, communication of pediatric patients with adults responsible for their care and generating resources for post-traumatic coping, resilience and growth. 3. Evaluate the program and discuss the results including the formation of panel of experts to that end. 4. Develop a guide for the design, development and evaluation of participatory visual arts activities in the context of promoting the health of children and adolescents. 5. Disseminate the results in scholarly platforms.