Co-creative art processes with patients: A theoretical framework and qualitative study among artists

Abstract

A cancer diagnosis may be experienced as a contingent life event. Co-creation-in which artists together with patients create a work of art reflecting on aspects of the patients' life story-may be used to support patients to integrate such a contingent life event into their life story. We conducted a qualitative study in which we interviewed 10 professional artists to explore if co-creative art processes could facilitate integration of experiences of contingency in patients. Template analyses were performed in AtlasTi. We identified co-creation as a specific form of support to the process of integration of experiences of contingency. In the formation of a new life narrative, patients transcend the boundaries of their previous life narrative by changing their perspective. Self-transcendence forms a pivotal point in co-creation, which may be helpful for patients to integrate experiences of contingency into their life narratives.

Fig 1. The relation between contingency, life narratives, mimesis and integration of experiences of contingency.

After a contingent life event, which might result in an existential crisis, a process of integration of experiences of contingency starts to facilitate restoration of coherence and integration of this experience into the life narrative. The arrows indicate respectively a decrease and subsequent increase of coherence of the life narrative. This process has similarities with the mimesis process which describes the phases of development of a narrative concerning a specific experience, which as the cycle represents, is an iterative process where one can move through several mimesis cycles to process the experience of contingency until the experience feels sufficiently integrated into one’s life narrative.

Fig 2. Final template.

The subsequent phases of co-creation are numbered to indicate their temporal aspect.

Fig 3. The position of co-creation within the theoretical framework.

Co-creation consists of four distinct phases (Art communication, Element compilation, Consolidation, Reflection) which support certain aspects of the reworking and integration of a contingent life event into the life story, i.e. the integration of an experience of contingency as described in mimesis. The arrows indicate where the phases of co-creation affect the mimesis process, and thereby support the process of integration of experiences of contingency as described in the mimesis process. In both co-creation and mimesis, people can jump back and forth between phases, thus leading to an iterative process. Self-transcendence facilitates the patient to move towards more fluidity in the life narrative, enabling the integration of experiences of contingency.