Research for PGT MSc Museum Education with the University of Glasgow 2021- 2023 awarded distinction.
Designing an effective resource: How can museums reduce loneliness for adults?
My postgraduate dissertation led me to research loneliness and how museums can best support adults who are most at risk through self-led resources. You can hear me speaking about the project at the GEM Museum Learning conference 2023 below, as well as an extract from a policy brief which outlines the findings. Get in contact for a full version of the policy brief.
Executive Summary
Chronic loneliness is one of the UK’s leading health concerns (Pattinson, 2020). With 45% of adults in England feeling occasionally, sometimes or often lonely (Campaign to End loneliness 2018) and one in three young people in the UK suffering from loneliness (Loneliness Connects us 2022), loneliness affects a wide proportion of the population. With stigma often accompanying loneliness, (Department for Culture Media and Sport 2023) there is considerable potential for museums, as non-clinical spaces which don’t ask for a diagnosis, (Chatterjee 2016: 281) to support those at risk of loneliness.
Positive wellbeing impacts of facilitated museum programmes is evident, with programmes reducing GP consultation rates by 37% in some cases (All party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing 2018:2). Positive impacts of self-led museum learning activities on loneliness, however, have not been proven, despite the existence of many resources.
In partnership with the Bristol-based educational wellbeing charity Open Mind-Ed (Open Mind-Ed 2023), Bristol Museum and Art Gallery (Bristol Museum & Art Gallery 2023) and four medical students at the University of Bristol, this empirical study has found that self-led museum resources using objects and artworks with immersive and sensory qualities can encourage feelings of connection and mindfulness for adult visitors. This study has also found that self-led learning resources can encourage a sense of connection to a wider, collective sense of self (Cacioppo 2009) for visitors through objects and artworks with religious, cultural, and professional relevance.
This brief contains recommendations for museums to create effective self-led learning resources that reduce loneliness by encouraging mindfulness and connection for adult visitors. The brief can also be used as a pilot study for further research for individuals working towards reducing loneliness across sectors.
Get in contact for the full report.
A collaborative project with PatchUp Productions , Open-Mind-ed and Bristol University, 2019 - 2020.
Loneliness & Solitude
A film exploration of loneliness and solitude. To be used as an educational tool in schools, colleges and universities in south west England
Museums as a resource for feeling connected
Working with Open Mind-Ed and Bristol University as part of a wider module, a group of medicine students and I discussed the importance of feeling connected to ourselves over a programme of museum and object based workshops. Using museums as an example, we discussed spaces which might encourage us to feel connected. The below extracts are taken from essays by the students following these discussions and a solitary visit to Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.
I discovered that solitude is as important as connection through being in solitude as part of the project. We explored this through breathing exercises and visiting a museum alone (see Appendix 2). I like to always be around people, and I find myself spending my free time on social media. My trip to the museum was freeing as I was able to be in touch with my personal self, without having to worry about how people see me. I didn’t need to pretend to be anyone else, nor did I feel the need to act a certain way. I realised that I had been giving all my time to my studies and to others but none to myself.
This project has encouraged me to reconsider how I allocate my time; previously I had not been making time for myself and I had failed to see that I was slowly losing myself in social gatherings, Facebook messages, and hours of studying. There is a fine balance and it is important to know when we as individuals need time to reconnect with ourselves too. Not only has the project encouraged me to reflect on my views, but I have started considering how my new knowledge can be used in future practice; knowledge is useless if we cannot utilise it.
There was also a session where we explored the use of museums particularly in times of coronavirus. We were set the task of going to a museum alone however I was in isolation at the time and could only access virtual museums. I visited the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam and was able to look at paintings closely as well as listen to an audio description of the pieces. I enjoyed this immensely as I felt at peace and was fully focused on learning more about the artists and their paintings. Although I was still in my bedroom at home I felt as if I was in a different world. I think this was a perfect example of happily being in solitude and spending time by myself. I truly enjoyed my own company and was not bored in the slightest. Although being in quarantine was very isolating, being able to access a virtual museum was the perfect way to spend a couple of hours and feel connected to the world. I felt connected as many of the pieces were painted in the 17th century so I was able to learn more about how people used to live hundreds of years ago and reflect on how much life has changed for society.
Another day I, along with others on the placement, went to a museum alone for over an hour to test them as a place for feeling connected to ourselves. The idea was inspired by a medical group who gave out prescriptions to tour the MMFA for free. According to MMFAdirector, “the uptick in hormones associated with enjoying an afternoon of art is similar to that offered by exercise, making museum prescriptions ideal for the elderly and individuals experiencing chronic pain that prevents them from regularly engaging in physical activity”.(11) Afterwards we all reported an increase in mood after the visit and unanimously agreed that we would like to do it again.