Study aims to find effects of art therapy on patients
Florida Hospital and Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts are launching a unique study to look at the impact of art therapy on elderly patients with dementia and their caregivers.
The eight-week program includes theater games, movement exercises, improvisation and scene-work in classes that will be held at Dr. Phillips Center.
Although the study engages patients with dementia, its main focus is on their nonpaid caregivers.
Researchers hope to find out whether interventions like art therapy can reduce the caregivers’ stress levels.
“This is really an opportunity for the community to participate in research that’s groundbreaking,” said Dr. Steven Smith, chief scientific officer for Florida Hospital Research Services.
If successful, “This is a model that can become scalable in the community, and we have a future in front of us that this will be a viable intervention for caregivers caring for chronic diseases,” said Smith.
More than 16 million Americans provide unpaid care for people who have Alzheimer’s or other dementia, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. And with the growing aging population, that number is only getting bigger.
Studies have shown that stress is more common in caregivers than their non-caregiving counterparts. Caregivers are also more likely to take medications for stress and depression than noncaregivers, research shows.
“There was a study done looking at immune response in the body. And individuals who were taking care of a loved one had a less robust response to vaccines than individuals who were not caregiving,” said Dr. Rosemary Laird, a geriatrician with Florida Hospital Medical Group. “If there's that kind of physiologic change, what other changes can there be?”
It’s not uncommon for Laird, who’s not involved in the Florida Hospital Dr. Phillips Center study, to hear from caregivers about stress and side effects such as heart palpitations.
“There's a silent epidemic of family caregivers who have chronic stress and worse outcomes,” she said. “And very little is done for that individual. It’s usually not even known by physicians.”
Florida Hospital and Dr. Phillips Center for the Arts have been collaborating for several years, but in 2015 they made their partnership official by establishing the Dr. Phillips Center Florida Hospital School of Arts & Wellness.
Before designing the study, researchers looked at the existing literature and took into account the local community’s greatest needs.
The team isn’t the first to look at the impact of art therapy on the health of patients or caregivers. However, it’s one of the very few to attempt to quantify the physiological impact of art therapy on caregiver stress.
“We wanted to see if we can actually do a study to measure positive outcomes,” said Kathy Ramsberger, president of Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. “We met with scientists and doctors and we wrote a curriculum with a research partner and presented it to Florida Hospital.”
Two teachers have been trained to conduct the weekly hourlong theater classes. Clinicians will meet with participants after every class to ask questions and gather information, such as cortisol levels, which are obtained by a mouth swab, and pulse rate.
The study requires 200 participants — 100 caregiver-patient duos — and is currently recruiting volunteers. Caregivers must be unpaid and dementia patients should be 65 years or older. For more information, visit www.creationhealthresearch.com/care-giverstudy.