Two Ages and Stages: creative participatory research with older people
-
Miriam Bernard
Abstract
This chapter examines a creative participatory research programme which highlights the benefits of theatre engagement for older people. Creative participatory research of this nature has a number of benefits and challenges. First, this kind of research places older people very much at the centre as opposed to simply being respondents to surveys and interviews. Second, using the artistic medium — namely, theatre and drama — in which the researchers were working to ‘show’ rather than just describe or write up the research findings was a logical approach to take. Third, there are, of course, challenges for everyone involved: the whole process is a risky one. Ultimately, the benefit of this approach is that it recognises, acknowledges, and enhances the skills and abilities that older people have; captures and conveys some of the less tangible aspects of experience and participation; and shows audiences something of the actual creative process.
Abstract
This chapter examines a creative participatory research programme which highlights the benefits of theatre engagement for older people. Creative participatory research of this nature has a number of benefits and challenges. First, this kind of research places older people very much at the centre as opposed to simply being respondents to surveys and interviews. Second, using the artistic medium — namely, theatre and drama — in which the researchers were working to ‘show’ rather than just describe or write up the research findings was a logical approach to take. Third, there are, of course, challenges for everyone involved: the whole process is a risky one. Ultimately, the benefit of this approach is that it recognises, acknowledges, and enhances the skills and abilities that older people have; captures and conveys some of the less tangible aspects of experience and participation; and shows audiences something of the actual creative process.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures, tables and boxes v
- Notes on contributors vii
- Series editors’ foreword xiii
- Introduction 1
- Setting the scene: older people’s conceptualisation of resilience and its relationship to cultural engagement 19
- Ages and Stages: creative participatory research with older people 43
- Social connectivity and creative approaches to dementia care: the case of a poetry intervention 65
- Narrative identity and resilience for people in later life with dementia living in care homes: the role of visual arts enrichment activities 87
- After the earthquake: narratives of resilience, re-signification of fear and revitalisation of local identities in rural communities of Paredones, Chile 111
- Integrating sense of place within new housing developments: a community-based participatory research approach 129
- Ageing in place: creativity and resilience in neighbourhoods 157
- Crafting resilience for later life 181
- Oral histories and lacemaking as strategies for resilience in women’s craft groups 203
- Objects of loss: resilience, continuity and learning in material culture relationships 227
- Later-life gardening in a retirement community: sites of identity, resilience and creativity 249
- Index 267
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures, tables and boxes v
- Notes on contributors vii
- Series editors’ foreword xiii
- Introduction 1
- Setting the scene: older people’s conceptualisation of resilience and its relationship to cultural engagement 19
- Ages and Stages: creative participatory research with older people 43
- Social connectivity and creative approaches to dementia care: the case of a poetry intervention 65
- Narrative identity and resilience for people in later life with dementia living in care homes: the role of visual arts enrichment activities 87
- After the earthquake: narratives of resilience, re-signification of fear and revitalisation of local identities in rural communities of Paredones, Chile 111
- Integrating sense of place within new housing developments: a community-based participatory research approach 129
- Ageing in place: creativity and resilience in neighbourhoods 157
- Crafting resilience for later life 181
- Oral histories and lacemaking as strategies for resilience in women’s craft groups 203
- Objects of loss: resilience, continuity and learning in material culture relationships 227
- Later-life gardening in a retirement community: sites of identity, resilience and creativity 249
- Index 267
