Impact of Chinese traditional art training as an emotional therapy on older people with cognitive impairment in the UK Event

Presenter:

Dr Yuanyuan Yin is an Associate Professor, Head of Research at the Design Department, co-director of the Global Smart Lab at the Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton. Yuanyuan completed her PhD in Design Management and MA in Design Strategy & Innovation and from Brunel University, UK. She earlier obtained her B. Eng. degree in Industrial Design in China. Since she joined University of Southampton in 2009, she has responsible for teaching in the key disciplines of design management, branding and design research. Her research has been concentrated on inclusive design for older people through ethnographic user studies, co-design collaborations, and improving innovation in product and service design. She has received more than 1.4M grants income from ESRC, British Council, and Confucius Institute Headquarter. Her recent research focused on inclusive smart retail service design for healthy ageing, design for inclusive ageing, and smart textile design for older users.

 

Abstract:

Providing activity for older people with dementia within the homecare sector is challenging and requires innovative service delivery to capture the skills and capacities of residents. Chinese traditional art is an unconventional but forward-thinking way of engaging older people with dementia.

The presentation today introduces a study that aims to investigate the impact of emotional art therapy on people with dementia using Chinese traditional art. This study explores whether Chinese traditional art therapy interventions can be used to promote healthy ageing in British older people. A mixed methodology, using the Pool Activity Levels Engagement Measure to assess engagement, and the Neurobehavioral Rating Scale assessment to explore the impact on mood and behaviour, were employed to obtain an understanding of older people’s engagement with the Chinese Traditional Art (CTArt) programme and it’s the impact on their behaviour. The CTArt programme took place over six weeks with 15 participants. Based on the research findings, it has been found that the CTArt intervention has a positive impact on the participant’s engagement, concentration, and fine motor control. Overall, it was noted that individuals with different levels of ability were able to engage with this activity from single water ink on reusable paper through to free style Xieyi painting.