Using the visual arts and crafts for health and wellbeing: The EPICS framework
Holt, Nicola; Rouse, Alison; Olson, Sophie
Authors
Nicola Holt Nicola.Holt@uwe.ac.uk
Associate Professor in Psychology
Alison Rouse Alison.Rouse@uwe.ac.uk
Senior Lecturer in Psychology
Sophie Olson
Abstract
The use of the visual arts and crafts in health, healing and ritual has a long history. The aim of this chapter is to illustrate how the visual arts and crafts are currently used for health and wellbeing, exemplified through case studies and research. This remit is broad, since the visual arts and crafts can be used in numerous ways, and with different goals (e.g., prevention, treatment, management, dissemination, communication). We will begin by defining terms and categorising the different ways in which the visual arts and crafts can be used for health and wellbeing, introducing the EPICS framework, and will then consider each of these areas in more depth: E (‘passive’ exposure to visual arts and crafts, e.g., viewing art in hospitals); P (the visual arts and crafts in psychotherapy/counselling); I (Individual engagement with visual arts and crafts, e.g., as a hobby); C (visual arts and crafts as a communication tool, e.g., to disseminate health messages); and S (social and community interventions, e.g., group art making to promote cohesion).
Deposit Date
Mar 10, 2025
Peer Reviewed
Peer Reviewed
Book Title
Routledge Handbook of Arts and Health
Chapter Number
6
Keywords
Visual art and crafts, art and health, EPICS framework, health, wellbeing, art psychotherapies, craftivism
