2.0 Methodology & Approach

This review focusses on academic and grey literature examining art, culture and wellbeing alongside issues of evaluation and measurement in the area.

Search terms ‘wellbeing AND culture,’ ‘wellbeing AND arts,’ ‘wellbeing AND arts AND culture’ and ‘wellbeing AND evaluation’ were used. The terms ‘mental health’ and ‘mental wellbeing’ were also added to these keyword combinations. Additional information regarding the projects and programmes discussed in these studies was also sought out (i.e. grey literature, community-led write ups, webpages etc.). The reference lists of the sources uncovered were also searched for any relevant information. Related web resources were also sought and scrutinised (i.e. www.creativeandcredible.co.uk).

In the following, this review seeks to establish the field of discussion; looking at the area of arts and health, establishing how wellbeing can be understood here and, specifically, how wellbeing and mental health are discussed/usefully understood. The review briefly acknowledges some of the (policy fuelled) expectations/ preferences that impinge on thinking around evaluation (see: MacLennan et al., 2021). The question of measurement/effective evaluation is then explored. Subsequently, the ways in which scholars and service providers have sought to approach the issue of data gathering for evaluation is examined. Of the validated measurement tools discussed, Warwick Edinburgh Wellbeing Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) – developed ‘on the understanding that subjective wellbeing can be used to measure a particular programme’s effectiveness’ and reasonably popular with arts and health organisations (APPG, 2017) – is looked at in more detail. Finally, the evidence discussed is summarised with reference to any insights it provides with reference to the following areas of interest:

• What measures, particularly standardised, are commonly used to gauge wellbeing in projects focussed on arts, culture and mental health?

• What are the pitfalls/ challenges or examples of great practice?

• What, if anything, can we learn about proportional/appropriate application of tools?

• What, if anything, can we learn about data collection methods- and issues –i.e. collecting data from young people?

Appendix A comprises mapping of a number of arts and cultural projects and the evaluation approaches taken within these. It shows the variety of approaches potentially available and, is intended to serve as a useful reference point for evaluation planning.

2.1 How to Use this Review

This review provides an overview of a complex field. It is not intended as an instruction manual, rather it sets out to give insights into a challenging subject area and, to assist the reader in thinking about how and why certain approaches have value, what challenges may be encountered when attempting to evaluate mental wellbeing and, how they might be counterbalanced.

A wide range of pre-existing (validated) resources are available, many of these have been signposted throughout this document alongside a variety of freely available resource banks (i.e. The What Works Centre for Wellbeing’s Measures Bank: https://measure.whatworkswellbeing.org/measures-bank/). This review aims to help those planning projects and programmes to think through the issues surrounding evaluation in this area early on, to have some insight into approaches being taken in similar interventions and thus, to have informed discussions and make informed decisions regarding wellbeing evaluation within the work that they are undertaking.

• Understanding wellbeing and where it sits in the field of arts, culture and health is covered in Sections 3.0 and 3.1

• The factors to be kept in mind with regard to capturing benefits wellbeing and considering appropriate types of data are summarised in Section 3.2

• Section 4.0 focuses on the specifics of evaluating mental wellbeing benefits of arts and cultural interventions.

• Sections 4.1 and 4.2 take a closer look at qualitative and quantitative approaches to this task and, Section 4.3 examines the utility of the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale in more detail.

• Section 5.0 highlights the conclusions and learning based on the foregoing review.

• A biography of sources consulted comprises Section 6.0 and Section 7.0 is an initial mapping of relevant arts and cultural projects provided to give insight into the evaluation approaches taken.