Arts-based research and knowledge translation: Some key concerns for health-care professionals

Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, CanadaINTRODUCTIONThe use of arts-based research methods is relatively newin health care, when compared to other disciplines such aseducation and visual sociology. Arts-based research isgrounded in the tradition of qualitative social science, andreferstotheuseofanyartform(s)atanypointintheresearchprocess, whether for generating, interpreting and/or com-municating knowledge (Knowles & Cole, 2008). Individualswithin and outside of health care recognize that arts-basedmethods illuminate human dimensions of health and illnessin ways that lower disciplinary barriers and improve ourunderstanding of both health and social care. By deﬁnition,these methods entail interdisciplinary and interprofessionalcollaboration between the clinical and social sciences, thehumanities and the arts.Arts-based knowledge translation (KT) is concernedwith dissemination and communication of knowledge.Such approaches to KT offer unique ways of engagingdiverse stakeholders on important health-care issues. Arts-based KT initiatives enhance our understanding by focusingon experiential and interactive aspects of illness and healthcare. Furthermore, they can produce important embodiedand affective responses for both participants and audiences,over and above solely enhancing cognitive understandingof a given topic. Invariably, arts-based KT entails colla-boration between individuals not only from diverseprofessional backgrounds (e.g. physicians, nurses, dramatur-gists and ﬁlmmakers) but also steeped in disparatedisciplinary sensibilities (e.g. artists and scientists). Theboundary-crossing work of incorporating the humanities,social and medical sciences represents a paradigm shiftwhereby KT is seen as a creative, complex and dynamicprocess, rather than one that is passive or linear.Using artistic expression to disseminate knowledge cantake many forms – visual (e.g. video, photography, andpainting), performative (e.g. drama, dance) or literary (e.g.poetry, ﬁction). For example, research-based theater hasbeen shown to impact health-care practitioner behavior andperspectives, in ﬁelds of oncology, dementia and traumaticbrain injury (Colantonio et al., 2008; Gray, Fitch, Labreque,& Greenberg, 2003; Kontos & Naglie, 2007). Poetry has beenused to translate research ﬁndings into accessible formats(Glesne, 1997) and drawing has been used to study andconvey experiences of illness (Guillemin, 2004). These arebut a few examples, suggesting that arts-based modes of KThave a unique and powerful emotional component thatengages target audiences (largely health-care practitioners,patients and their families) on affective and cognitive levelsand are critical to successful educational interventions(Colantonio et al., 2008). EMPLOYING THE ARTS IN KNOWLEDGE TRANSLATIONAlthough arts-based methods are relatively new to healthcare, they are well established in other ﬁelds such aseducation and the social sciences (Eisner, 1997; Knowles &Cole, 2008). Individuals both within and outside ofhealth care recognize that arts-based methods illuminatehuman dimensions of health and illness in ways that fostercross-disciplinary collaboration and enhance our under-standing of both health and social care, promotingintersectoral collaboration. The arts offer alternative waysof communicating research ﬁndings and best practices.Evoking emotional responses, providing alternative formsof representation, and promoting dialogue and the sharingof stories are made possible by incorporating art forms intoKTstrategies.