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22/06/2020

ICS, in collaboration with Vall d’Hebron, creates a museum-based program to improve healthcare staff emotional wellbeing

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22/06/2020

The program, Recuperart-19, which ICS organizes together with Department of Culture, seeks the emotional wellbeing of healthcare personnel after COVID-19 pandemic.

The program has been designed by the Psychiatry Service at Vall d'Hebron and the Psychiatry, Mental Health and Addictions research group at VHIR, led by Dr. Josep Antoni Ramos-Quiroga.The consequences of a health crisis without precedents generated by COVID-19 affect many groups. These effects, of course, have also left their mark in health professionals, whose emotional health has been affected, to a lesser or greater degree, and with consequences that are difficult to foresee if we do not act effectively.Catalan Health Institute (ICS), in collaboration with the Department of Culture, proposes to the healthcare community an initiative based on the use of museums as environments for reflection and improvement of emotional wellbeing.This initiative, a pioneer at the international level, takes into account the particular characteristics of the healthcare community in terms of self-perception of health and the need for self-care. Thus, the program seeks to complement the current offer of psychological and emotional support offered by ICS though a community-type activity outside the formal care settings.Participation in Recuperart-19 will be completely anonymous, free and easily accessible since museums from all the health regions of Catalonia participate from the start of the program. In this sense, 16 museums from all health regions participate in a first deployment and it is expected that this number of centers will increase once the first phase is evaluated.The program is designed to be carried out individually and autonomously and focuses on the prevention and management of possible symptoms of anxiety, depression or even slight manifestations of post-traumatic stress associated with their professional activity during the coronavirus crisis.In order to participate, healthcare professionals will only need to be accredited by showing their professional identification in any of the participating museums, which will offer them free admission. Next, they will be provided with a notebook specially prepared for the activity and a file with a list of works of art related with the intervention. This notebook will be the guide to follow the activity, which will be self-guided, and will have the instructions and guidelines for the participant. The proposed activities focus on mindfulness exercises, concentration, focus, cognitive association, creativity, writing, drawing and reflection. The activity can be carried out in the participating museums from the first week of July on.From a clinical point of view, it has been designed by the Psychiatry Service of the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital and the research group of Psychiatry, Mental Health and Addictions of VHIR, headed by Dr. Josep Antoni Ramos-Quiroga, one of the two directors of the program, along with Guillem de Efak Fullana Ferré, coordinator of the ICS Health Arts Strategy. Ramos-Quiroga has stressed: "We understand the museum as a therapeutic, community and inclusive space, and this activity seeks to activate personal resources to favor positive effects on the state of mind."Recuperart-19 program is part of the strategic framework of the organization, which explores the applications of arts in the health field in line with the affirmation of the World Health Organization (WHO), which, after reviewing the evidence, concludes that "arts can play an important role in prevention and treatment of a disease, promoting health throughout the life cycle of people".In fact, Vall d'Hebron and MNAC already signed a collaboration agreement in February 2019 that resulted in an intervention, led by Dr. Ramos-Quiroga himself, focused on women with post-traumatic stress disorder, with diverse cultural origin (immigrants or refugees) and in situations of social vulnerability. The action combined new didactic strategies from MNAC and the principals of therapeutic intervention for emotional support to situations of fragility of women established by the Vall d'Hebron Psychiatry team.In the case of Recuperart-19, however, the recipients of the intervention will be the health professionals themselves, which is one of the innovative elements of the project that places it at the forefront of the discipline internationally known as Arts in Health. In fact, a secondary objective of the project is to comprehensively evaluate the results of the intervention "to broaden the evidence base of the Arts in Health strategies", as the coordinator of Arts in Health at ICS, Guillem de Efak, explained.Meanwhile, Josep Maria Argimon, director of ICS, wanted to highlight that the creation of this project that "complements the actions that we already have at the institution to help improve the emotional health of health professionals". ICS's leadership in the Arts in Health project is confirmed within the organization's structure in an experience assistance program (PADEICS). With this action, professionals from different disciplines and territorial areas pool their knowledge to promote transversal and common Arts in Health projects.Al example that is already in the design phase, together with the Public Health Agency of Catalonia and the Department of Culture, is the design of three pilot projects in Arts in Health focused, in this case, in the field of primary care. Together with the primary care centers of Figueres, Cerdanyola del Vallès and Cardedeu and the museums of Empordà, Art at Cerdanyola and Tomàs Balvey at Cardedeu, respectively, address different health aims from the community level.During the event, the Minister of the Department of Culture, Mariàngela Vilallonga, highly valued the initiative and highlighted the healing role of culture and the potential of Catalan museums to improve health and wellbeing of the population. "In these uncertain times, culture gives us the strength we need. Catalan museums are safe and healthy spaces, places of welcome for all citizens. With this project, in which we collaborate with the Department of Health again, we want to help people who are in difficulties, to heal their spirit and mind. We want to help all the people who have saved lives during confinement. Culture is on the front line to save those who have been on the front line to save lives. For weeks, we have seen culture through screens. Now we can once again enjoy it in person, live, and museums are very safe places, so I appeal to everyone to go".The Minister Alba Vergés has highlighted the clear commitment to the synergy between Health and Culture: "With arts we can do great things". And it has also had an impact on the need to "take care of the people who have taken care of us and who have to continue taking care of us". "Emotional management is now key for all health personnel, the project brings us closer to society, takes care of professionals and helps us collaborate with them". Recuperart-19 also "is an emotional wellbeing project that helps us break the stigma of mental health problems", added Vergés.LIST OF PARTICIPATING MUSEUMSMuseu de l'Empordà, FigueresMuseu d'Art de CerdanyolaMuseu Arxiu Tomàs Balvey de CardedeuMuseu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, BarcelonaMuseu de L'HospitaletMuseu Pau Casals, El VendrellMuseu de Tortosa: Històric i arqueològic de les Terres de l'EbreMuseu Episcopal de VicMuseu de Lleida: Diocesà i ComarcalCentre d'Art La Panera, LleidaEcomuseu de les Valls d'àneu, Esterri d'àneuMuseu d'Art Modern de TarragonaMuseu de la Pell d'Igualada i Comarcal de l'AnoiaMuseu d'Art de GironaMuseu de la Garrotxa, OlotMuseus de Sitges

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