Main Concepts

“Arts in Health” is a broad concept based on the use of arts, culture, and heritage to improve the health and well-being of individuals in different contexts and opportunities. This approach assumes the integration of arts, heritage, and humanities (visual arts, music, dance, theater, literature, thought, etc.) in the management of people’s health and communities. The concept aims to advance the realization of the potential benefits of the arts by integrating them into health care processes, whether in prevention, health promotion, or the treatment and rehabilitation of specific pathologies.

To incorporate the arts into the toolbox we have to address community health challenges is not a simple exercise. It requires a clear conceptual framework and the development of evidence-based methodologies to ensure effective, safe, and enriching projects. Emphasis must be placed on methodological rigor and scientific evidence for interventions, articulating them based on the theoretical goal of expected health outcomes, appropriate indicators, and robust evaluation tools.

The methodology followed by arts in health interventions and projects must meet basic requirements, including:

• Clearly defined health objective
• Co-creation between healthcare personnel and professionals in the arts and culture
• Involvement of the intervention recipients in the design phase
• Evaluation to establish scientific evidence of the interventions
• Communication and dissemination of the intervention results

Health assets: any factor or resource that enhances the capacity of individuals, communities, and populations to maintain health and well-being. The conceptualization of health assets follows the logic of making healthy, well-being-oriented, and aging-friendly options easy and accessible.

Community health is the collective expression of the health of a defined community, determined by the interaction between individual characteristics, families, social, cultural, and environmental surroundings, as well as healthcare services and the influence of social, political, and global factors. A community health intervention is defined as an action taken with and from the community through a participatory process.

Community Assets Model is a methodology for community health intervention that emphasizes the development of policies and activities based on the skills, abilities, and resources of individuals and disadvantaged neighborhoods. This method aims to identify the map of assets or strengths of the community to discover individual, collective, and environmental capacities, as well as existing talents in the context.

Social Prescription allows doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals to refer patients to a range of non-clinical community services. This care approach recognizes that people’s health is mainly determined by social, economic, and environmental factors. Social prescription aims to address people’s needs holistically, providing support to have greater control over their health. Social prescription actions may involve a variety of activities typically provided by community organizations: artistic activities, volunteer projects, group learning, gardening, cooking, and a wide range of sports activities.