New guidelines for evaluating arts-based health interventions

A framework giving guidance on how to assess arts projects and programmes aimed at boosting health and wellbeing has been published by Public Health England. It notes that, “while there is a growing evidence base, it is not readily accessible to those whose responsibility it is to commission or develop services”.

Arts for health and wellbeing: An evaluation framework explains the range of arts activities that can be used to support health and wellbeing and the resources needed to develop and sustain best practice in this field.

It also looks at methods for assessing the impact and effectiveness of arts for health initiatives. According to the report, these have tended to be confusing, and the absence of standardised frameworks has made it difficult to compare interventions, capture their outcomes or develop best practice. A key aim of the new framework is to enable comparisons to be more easily made between different projects.

The document attempts to bridge the gap between artists, health professionals, policy makers, economists and researchers, who “bring different perspectives and approaches to the task of evidencing impact and value”.

Guidance is given on a range of issues, including how to choose suitable approaches to evaluation for arts activity with health and wellbeing aims; how to identify suitable outcome measures; and how to make best use of quantitative and qualitative techniques when evaluating these interventions and their impact.