Journal article
‘Will I wear purple?’—a school arts-based research project in the UK to disseminate findings from a qualitative evidence synthesis about living to an extreme age
- Abstract:
-
Background: a change in attitude towards ageing is needed. Arts-based research (ABR) refers to the use of any creative art in research. ABR can provide an environment to reflect on challenging social issues and has the potential to make lasting impressions.
Objective: we aimed to explore the use of ABR to disseminate findings from a qualitative evidence synthesis exploring what it means to live well beyond the age of 80.
Design: ABR using art as a stimulus for recorded discussions and written annotations.
Setting: a mixed catchment state secondary school in the UK.
Subjects: fifty-four secondary school pupils aged 14–15. The majority identified as female (ratio 5:1).
Methods: school pupils created artwork to represent themes about ageing drawn from a qualitative evidence synthesis. The artwork was a stimulus for recorded discussions. We used thematic analysis to develop themes about children’s response to ageing.
Results: we developed six themes. Pupils found comfort in recognising that old age can be lived well; they began to see themselves in the older person; they explored the ambiguous nature of memory; they highlighted the dangers of disconnection; they affirmed a need to restore connection with elders and they recognised the need to cherish time and live meaningfully.
Conclusions: this project encouraged pupils to think about what it means to grow old. ABR has the potential to contribute to a more positive relationship with older people and towards ageing. Research stakeholders should not undervalue the potential power of shifts in perspective for powering social change.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
Actions
Access Document
- Files:
-
-
(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 1.2MB, Terms of use)
-
- Publisher copy:
- 10.1093/ageing/afad051
Authors
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- Journal:
- Age and Ageing More from this journal
- Volume:
- 52
- Issue:
- 6
- Pages:
- 1-9
- Article number:
- afad051
- Place of publication:
- England
- Publication date:
- 2023-06-26
- DOI:
- EISSN:
-
1468-2834
- ISSN:
-
0002-0729
- Pmid:
-
37366330
- Language:
-
English
- Keywords:
- Subjects:
- Pubs id:
-
1489651
- Local pid:
-
pubs:1489651
- Deposit date:
-
2023-08-08
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Toye et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2023
- Rights statement:
- © The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
If you are the owner of this record, you can report an update to it here: Report update to this record