The Art of Creating New Stories: Working with Art-Based Learning in Palliative Care (Art-PC)

The diagnosis of incurable cancer can lead to feelings of uncertainty and also to existential questions as patients are confronted with an experience of loss of meaning in their lives. Creative thinking can help in this situation to arrive at new perspectives.

Project team

• Project coordinator and Principal Investigator: prof.dr. Jeroen Lutters (ArtEZ, RUG) • Principal Investigators: prof.dr. Gerben Westerhof; prof.dr. Hanneke van Laarhoven • PhD Candidates: Marike Geurtz, MA; Shailoh Philips, MA • Other team members: dr. Fabiola Camuti (HKU University of the Arts Utrecht) ; dr. Michael Scherer-Rath (Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen); dr. Anneke Sools (University of Twente)

Being diagnosed with incurable cancer often leads to experiences of contingency and to existential concerns when patients struggle to search for meaning. The aims of this project are to (1) investigate how Art-Based Learning (ABL) – a specific art perception method for experiencing art – has the potential to affect meaning-making processes of cancer patients in palliative care; (2) to investigate how to integrate this in (patient) education programs; (3) to enable health and art professionals to extent their capabilities to care for PC patients.

Aims and questions have been developed in a long-lasting process of problem analysis with PC and art education professionals, patients, and researchers. We will a) conduct participatory research to make an inventory of considerations that play a role in designing an art exhibition for the purpose of ABL among patients with advanced cancer, resulting in a manual to be used in future practice and research; b) conduct an explorative study and evaluate which factors hinder and promote patients’ meaning-making processes in online/on-site interventions; c) conduct a formal analysis of patients’ experiences with regards to meaning-making; d) formally compile a full list of conclusion and advices and embed the result in a new educational program for PC and art education professionals.