ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: . Even though emerging evidence suggests that participation in arts-based group programs are helpful in supporting mental health, the field lacks an established theorical framework. This study explored the extent to which participants' experiences of singing or creative writing groups aligned with theorising proposed by the social cure approach. METHODS: . Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 choir members, and 23 creative writing group members with chronic mental health conditions at two time points. Transcripts of the interviews were examined by four coders using thematic analysis. RESULTS: . Consistent with social cure theorising, participation in the choir and creative writing group facilitated meeting participants' needs for belonging, support, self-efficacy, purpose, and positive emotions. CONCLUSIONS: . This study demonstrated the psychosocial mechanisms by which participation in arts-based groups can enhance mental health. We conclude that engagement with the social cure framework may be useful to structure practice in this field.
Subject(s)
Art Therapy , Creativity , Mental Disorders/psychology , Mental Health Recovery , Social Support , Adult , Chronic Disease/psychology , Female , Humans , Interviews as Topic , Male , Qualitative Research , Self Efficacy , Singing , WritingABSTRACT
Previous research on the development of emotion recognition in music has focused on classical, rather than popular music. Such research does not consider the impact of lyrics on judgements of emotion in music, impact that may differ throughout development. We had 172 children, adolescents, and adults (7- to 20-year-olds) judge emotions in popular music. In song excerpts, the melody of the music and the lyrics had either congruent valence (e.g. happy lyrics and melody), or incongruent valence (e.g. scared lyrics, happy melody). We also examined participants' judgements of vocal bursts, and whether emotion identification was linked to emotion lexicon. Recognition of emotions in congruent music increased with age. For incongruent music, age was positively associated with judging the emotion in music by the melody. For incongruent music with happy or sad lyrics, younger participants were more likely to answer with the emotion of the lyrics. For scared incongruent music, older adolescents were more likely to answer with the lyrics than older and younger participants. Age groups did not differ on their emotion lexicons, nor recognition of emotion in vocal bursts. Whether children use lyrics or melody to determine the emotion of popular music may depend on the emotion conveyed.