ABSTRACT

This paper outlines the growth of interest in the UK in the social and health impacts of the arts from the late 1990s onwards. It highlights the early critiques of claims made about such impacts by Belfiore and Mirza (Mirza, 2006a). Attention is given to two recent commissioned reviews of arts and health research, by the World Health Organization (WHO) Europe, and the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), which conclude that the can arts have an important role in promoting health and reducing social and health inequalities. These reports have substantial limitations, however, and the critical concerns raised by Belfiore and Mirza remain to be addressed. The paper concludes that broad scoping reviews are ill-advised as a guide for practice and policy development, and future progress should be guided by rigorous, systematic and transparent methods that ensure that review results are trustworthy. The arts and cultural engagement may have a part to play in promoting wellbeing, but whether or not they can have a substantial role in promoting population health and reducing social and health inequalities is yet to be demonstrated.

摘要

本文概述了自 1990 年代后期以来英国对艺术的社会和健康影响的兴趣增长。它强调了 Belfiore 和 Mirza 对此类影响的早期批评（Mirza，2006a）。注意到最近由世界卫生组织 (WHO) 欧洲和英国数字、文化、媒体和体育部 (DCMS) 委托进行的两项艺术和健康研究审查，得出的结论是罐头艺术具有重要作用在促进健康和减少社会和健康不平等方面。然而，这些报告有很大的局限性，Belfiore 和 Mirza 提出的关键问题仍有待解决。该文件的结论是，将广泛的范围界定审查作为实践和政策制定的指南是不明智的，未来的进展应以严格的、确保审查结果可信的系统和透明的方法。艺术和文化参与可能在促进福祉方面发挥作用，但它们是否能够在促进人口健康和减少社会和健康不平等方面发挥重要作用还有待证明。