The official kick-off meeting of the Culture on Prescription project, was held in Germany on the 9 and 10 March 2022, hosted by ISIS and the Frankfurt Health Department that uses art therapy to support lonely adults in the region.
An Eurofound study on quality of life and life in Europe indicated that in 2016, 12% of Europeans felt loneliness more than half the time. The COVID19 pandemic increased this problem, as in the first months, this number increased to 25%.[1]. In addition to the emotional distress that loneliness causes, it is also correlated with the adoption of risky behaviors, mental problems, decreased cognitive performance and even increased risk of mortality. Furthermore, it also has consequences for social cohesion and community trust, so is a public health problem to which attention should be paid.
Culture on Prescription is an Erasmus+ project that aims to prevent and combat social isolation and loneliness through art and culture. It is a social intervention based on “social prescribing”, already implemented in the United Kingdom and Ireland with very positive results, and which aims to “prescribe” to participants experiences related to art and culture as a way to reduce social isolation and loneliness. Through these experiences, participants will be able to know more about art and be artists themselves, while improving social skills and the feeling of belonging and trust, while also increasing their network of contacts and friends.
Over the next two years, a consortium coordinated by the ISIS Institut für Soziale Infrastruktur (Germany) and the Department of Health in Frankfurt (Germany) and also with the participation of SHINE 2Europe (Portugal), AFEdemy (Netherlands), the Dublin City University (Ireland), GEAC (Romania) and European Association for the Education of Adults (Belgium) will develop and implement a study pilot in Portugal, Romania, Germany and the Netherlands that aims to validate this type of intervention in these countries.
Art as a form of health promotion and disease prevention will be our motto – contributing to a more inclusive and happier society!
[1] https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC125873