Stroke patients to take part in study to find whether visual arts can aid recovery

Patients will be given the opportunity to work with a visual artist during their inpatient stay in a research study being funded by the Chief Scientist’s Office.

The study begins in February 2013 and will run until the beginning of 2015. It will involve artists working with patients in the stroke rehabilitation units at Perth Royal Infirmary and Stracathro Hospital.

The project involves the Tayside Healthcare Arts Trust (That) and researchers at Dundee and St Andrews universities.

A spokeswoman for NHS Tayside said: “Patients will explore the use of art materials for their own creativity as a rehabilitative activity.

“Expression through art appears to help people develop their confidence, motivate them and help them recognise that they are more capable of achieving goals than they thought they were.”

That projects co-ordinator Chris Kelly said: “This is an amazing opportunity to use scientific research to test just how much the arts have to offer in this area of healthcare.”

He continued: “I have been developing this creative engagement model for the past 12 years and am delighted that we have now got recognition and support for our work at a national level.

“The announcement of the Chief Scientist’s Office award is the very positive culmination of that work and all the more remarkable as this is an unusual area for CSO to invest in.

“This research award takes  our work to the next level, where we can really start to  look closely at how the model of creative engagement works and its effects on different participants.”