Beautiful life: 以藝同行 絢麗人生Recovery Program to empower & develop strength of Mental Health Service Users

Abstract Description

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Authors (including presenting author) :

Mak CWP(1)(2), Wong SM(1) Wong MOC(2), Ip YH (2), Lau WY(2), Tse WM(2), Wong HY(1), Yip MK(2), Chan YW(2), Hung YY(1), Wong KM(2), Lee WL(1)

Affiliation :

(1)Community Psychiatric Service, Tai Po Hospital (2)Community Psychiatric Service, North District Hospital

Introduction :

Many clients with mental health problems feel in darkness. The illness adversely impact on their psychosocial well-being and it takes years of struggle to improve. A recovery promotion program, ‘Beautiful Life’, that adopted expressive art approach which incorporates painting, writing, drama, dance and/or music. Through the process of expressive art, it deepens and transcends one’s uniqueness, creative experiences, flourish and supportive healing. It revitalizes one’s sense of wellness, arise self-esteem and integration of body and mind.

Objectives :

To empower service users to develop their strengths and integrate into the community by means of artwork activities and artwork exhibition

Methodology :

An open group of 8-session based on expressive art approach were co-designed by the Case Managers (CM) and Peer Support Workers (PSW) of community psychiatric team. PSW refers to people with lived experience of recovery from mental illness and he/she used such experience as a tool to help others. Maximum group size of each session was 20. The contents of the program were: Session 1: Opening ceremony with introduction of recovery elements & content of the program to highlight the role and experience of PSW and the recovery concept Session 2: The Art Communications – Calligraphy+ Body Art for service users to experience the strengths of non-verbal communications and the misunderstanding of verbal communications Session 3: The art of Cooperation(Outing : photo taking + sand painting) to experience the happiness of cooperation and sense of support Session 4: The Art of Blessing – Dream catcher to express gratitude to self and significant others Session 5: The Art of Appreciation – Cup Flower to experience the life adversity by the metaphor of fading and fresh flowers Session 6: The art of Love -Food making with family to appreciate & highlight carer’s support Session 7: Community exhibition x 2 days to show client’s talents to the public. Session 8: Closing ceremony Pre and post measurement by Well-Being Index (WHO-5), rosenberg self-esteem scale and patient experience survey were collected. The WHO-5 is a short questionnaire consisting of 5 simple and non-invasive questions, which tap into the subjective well-being of the respondents. The self-esteem scale consists of 10 questions for measuring client’s self-esteem. It has adequate validity both as a screening tool for depression and as an outcome measure in clinical trials and has been applied successfully across a wide range of study fields.

Result & Outcome :

Results of Well-Being Index (WHO-5) The Wilcoxon Signed Rank test showed that after completion of 9 sessions of ‘Beautiful Life’ program, their Post Well-Being Index increase by 13% when compared with Pre-Well-Being Index. It demonstrated that the psychological well-being of participants was improved after joining the ‘Beautiful Life’ program. Results of Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (1965) The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale test showed that after completion of 9 sessions of ‘Beautiful Life’ program, their Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale increase by 7.8% when compared with Pre- Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. It demonstrated that the self-esteem of participants was improved after joining the ‘Beautiful Life’ program. According to the patient satisfaction survey, 90% of participants had positive feedbacks that they were satisfied with the time, contents, arrangement and staff performance in the program. The most importantly, the participant’s confidence, happiness, positive thinking and friendship were enhanced. There are 93.3 % of participants scored ≥8/10 for the overall satisfaction of the program. Their feedbacks demonstrated that this program could promote the mental well-being of participants. They gave positive comments on the operation of the program.