ArticleBMC public health2021
Arts engagement supports social connectedness in adulthood: findings from the HEartS Survey.
Article in BMC public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed.
- Lessons From the Past, Hope for the Future: A Qualitative Study on the Lives of Leprosy-Affected Residents of a Leprosy Settlement in Malaysia.Qualitative health research · 2026Article
- The relationship between employment status and mental health among adults of different groups in Taiwan: a study with artistic leisure as a moderator.Industrial health · 2026Article
- Path With Art: Exploring the Impact of Community Arts Programming on Trauma Recovery.Health promotion practice · 2026Article
- Promoting well-being through creativity: a mixed-methods study on integrating studio art into education for students in medical fields in Japan.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Changes in mental health during participation in Art Pharmacy: a longitudinal study of a U.S. arts-based social prescribing program.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- The association pathway between music practice and mental health: a study on social connectedness, perceived stress, and anxiety among individuals with piano experience.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Art, neuroplasticity, and tradition: a narrative review and conceptual perspective of Chinese woodblock printing in global art practices and Parkinson's disease neuroscience.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- Key effects of inclusive dance for adults with developmental disabilities: embodied agency, relational self-understanding, and conditions of wellbeing.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Arts participation and mental health: evidence from the Chinese general social survey.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Arts engagement and mental health: a social psychological framework.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- Time Profile of U.S. Neighborhoods: Datasets of Time Use at Social Infrastructure Places.Scientific data · 2025Article
- Leveraging an Arts-Based Approach to Foster Engagement, Nurture Kindness, and Prevent Violence.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Harmonising artistic designs with private and collective notions of home: a focus group study of older persons' experiences of art in residential care specialised in dementia care.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Fostering childhood prosociality and relatedness: the perceived impact of an arts-based philosophical intervention on collaboration, empathy and respect.Frontiers in health services · 2025Article
- Mental Health Benefits of Listening to Music During COVID-19 Quarantine: Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Arts, culture and sports engagement and self-rated health: a cross-sectional population-based study in southern Sweden.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Arts Engagement as a Health Behavior: An Opportunity to Address Mental Health Inequities.Community health equity research & policy · 2024Article
- Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between arts engagement, loneliness, and social support in adolescence.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2023Article
- Associations of Social, Cultural, and Community Engagement With Health Care Utilization in the US Health and Retirement Study.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Art Engagement and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: Evidence From the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.International journal of public health · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLoneliness is a public health challenge, associated with premature mortality and poorer health outcomes. Social connections can mitigate against loneliness, and there is evidence that the arts can support social connectedness. However, existing research on the arts and social connectedness is limited by focus on particular age groups and arts activities, as well as a reliance on typically small-scale studies.
methodsThis study reports survey data from 5892 adults in the United Kingdom, closely matched to the national profile in terms of sociodemographic and economic characteristics. It investigates the extent to which arts engagement is perceived to be linked with feelings of social connectedness, which forms of arts engagement are reported as most connecting, and how. Data were collected via the HEartS Survey, a newly designed tool to capture arts engagement in the United Kingdom and its associations with social and mental health outcomes. Demographic and quantitative data, pertaining to the extent to which arts engagement is perceived to be linked with social connectedness, were analysed descriptively. Qualitative data pertaining to respondents' perceptions of how arts engagement is linked with feelings of social connectedness were analysed using inductive thematic analysis.
resultsResults demonstrated that the majority of respondents (82%) perceive their arts engagement to be linked with feelings of social connectedness at least some of the time. The forms of arts engagement most linked with feelings of social connectedness were attending a live music performance, watching a live theatre performance, and watching a film or drama at the cinema or other venue. Four overarching themes characterise how arts engagement is perceived to facilitate feelings of social connectedness: social opportunities, sharing, commonality and belonging, and collective understanding.
conclusionsThe findings suggest that arts engagement can support social connectedness among adults in the UK through multiple pathways, providing large-scale evidence of the important role that the arts can play in supporting social public health.
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