This submission presents evidence from two University of Southampton research projects examining creative and arts-based approaches to reproductive health education and healthcare professional development. The first project, From Puberty to Menopause: Creative Focus-Groups Study, explored how girls and women experience reproductive health across the life course using arts-based methods such as poetry, drawing and collage. The second project, Audience Perspectives on The Feeling, evaluated a verbatim theatre production that wove together testimonies from the focus groups.
The outcomes of the projects revealed key barriers to participation in women and girls, including the normalisation of pain, lack of acknowledgement for patient’s voices, and significant gaps in education on issues pertaining to reproductive health.
This written evidence was co-ordinated by Tiffany Withers, Parliamentary and Communications Officer at Public Policy | Southampton.
Professor Kath Woods-Townsend, Professor of Science Engagement and Education in the School of Healthcare Enterprise and Innovation, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton and Programme Director for LifeLab, leading innovative educational programmes that connect young people with health science since 2009.
Professor Lucy Green, Head of Engagement in Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton and a specialist in Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, with expertise in developing co-produced and participatory research approaches.
Professor Tamar Pincus, Dean of the Faculty of Environment and Life Sciences at the University of Southampton and Professor in Health Psychology, whose research examines psychological mechanisms in pain and the experiences of people living with pain.
Professor Daniel Ashton, Professor of Cultural and Creative Industries in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of Southampton, with research focusing on culture, place and policy, and leads the University's Culture and Creativity Policy Network.
Dr Joseph Owen, Research Fellow in the Southampton Institute for Arts and Humanities and specialist policy officer for the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Co-Director of the Centre for Modern and Contemporary Writing and the Culture and Creativity Policy Network.
Dr Charlie Ingram, interdisciplinary researcher and theatre director, currently Honorary Research Fellow at Coventry University Centre for Creative Economies, specialising in evaluating cultural intervention projects through art-based methodologies.
Michelle Smith, Creative Director and Founder of Theatre for Life, a community organisation established in 2017 to equalise opportunities and empower communities through the arts and meaningful theatre. Michelle led the creative development of The Feeling and facilitated the arts-based focus groups, bringing expertise in using creative methods to explore sensitive health topics and generate authentic lived experience narratives for theatrical performance.
Stephanie Flack, University of Southampton researcher focused on qualitative research methods within the school of Healthcare and Enterprise Innovation, University of Southampton.
Fran White, Associate Director of Policy, Innovation and Partnerships and the programme lead for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Women’s health network and leads of the delivery of the women’s health strategy in the local area
