Arts-based interventions: Why it’s complex, and why that matters: Comment on “Can arts-based interventions improve health? A conceptual and methodological critique” by Skov and Nadal
Holt, Nicola
Authors
Nicola Holt Nicola.Holt@uwe.ac.uk
Associate Professor in Psychology
Abstract
While Skov and Nadal make important contributions to the arts and health field, I highlight two related limitations in their critique. First, they adopt a reductive view of art, treating it as a monolithic category rather than recognizing its heterogeneity, context and function. Second, their focus on experimental designs reflects a narrow view of methodological rigour, often at odds with the context-sensitive nature of ABIs. They overlook systems and complexity-informed approaches, appearing to assume that ABIs behave like pharmaceuticals, mechanisms being isolatable and linear. Together, these limitations risk misrepresenting how ABIs function in real-world health contexts.
