Karpavieiute, S., Parkinson, C., 2015.

Arts Activity and Well-being in the Workplace: a Pilot Study of Health Service Workers in Lithuania

Summar y. Back ground. Around 10% of workers em ployed in the healthc are sec tor across the European Union are exposed to a complex variety of health and safety hazards. The Euro- pean Pact for Mental Health and Well-being identified workplace mental health as a priority area. The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate the impact of arts activity on the well-be ing of Lith u a nia n health ser vice work ers.
Ma te ri als and meth ods. Be tween Sep tem ber-No vem ber 2012, the re search fo cused on hospital health care staff (n=34, participants) taking part in the study for 8 weeks. Partici- pants (n=34) were taking part in silk painting activities (one silk painting activity, once a week, totalling 8 sessions). Demographic questions and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS) and the World Health Organization Quality of Life assess- ment (before and after arts activity in participants group) and 9 interviews with participants (after the arts activity) were carried out.
Results. 88% of participants had never participated in art activities in the year prior to the study. At the outset, participants' stated aims included: to gain new knowledge and skills (82%), and to experience positive emotions and relaxation after perceived stress at work (59%). Afterwards, all participants reported enjoyment, better scores in Overall quality of life and General Health, WEMWBS and 85% aspired to continue creative practice in the fu ture.
Con clu sions. P a rt i c i p a t i o n i n a r t a ct i vi t i e s h a d a p o si t i v e i m p a c t o n h e a l t h c a r e wo r k e r ' s general health and mental well-being, reducing stress experienced at work, increasing sense of community, self-esteem, and work productivity. This pilot study with the country's first use of WEMWBS has a great potential for a larger study to explore the arts/arts activities as a tool to promote healthcare staff well-being at work.