developing research project (2010 - present)
Making Sense of Wellbeing:
creative interventions engendering
new understandings of
ageing well
In late 2009 Burnett and Gray brought together
practitioner-researchers from Arts and Healthcare to explore the possibility of forming an experienced interdisciplinary research team to investigate the concept of 'wellbeing' from multiple perspectives, aimed to engage with the elderly.
At the first meeting (November 2009) Burnett introduced
the Making Sense research programme and its activities to date.
The second meeting (January 2010) explored broad issues around what is meant by 'the elderly'?, appropriate research methodologies for an Arts & Health collaboration, and possible evaluation methods.
We also identified possessing specific expertise in the
following areas:
• nursing, health sciences, mental health
• making skills - objects and situations, collaborative practices
• working with diverse groups/constituencies of people
• human-centred research methodologies
• creative evaluation methods.
In order to further the collaboration and establish common ground we all agreed to participate in what we called 'a creative intervention' - a workshop similar to the Making Sense projects we carried out with students.