Abstract
This edited book is impressive at a number of levels. It is substantial in both size and scope, offering comprehensive coverage of the contribution that the creative arts can make to health across a range of public health and community settings. The depth of coverage is significant. The book claims to be the first work of its kind to bring together an international set of contributors in this field. There are 65 in total from both research and practitioner environments across Europe, Australia, United States, Canada, Africa, South America and India. This notable combination of specialists disseminates global examples of established practice and, because of the eclectic range, provides many ideas for developing new interventions.
The book is logically structured into four parts with 39 chapters in total. The first part is designed to set the scene and introduce the field of creative arts, health and wellbeing and presents some fundamental insights into what has been achieved and what are the current and future challenges. The chapters in this first section are multidisciplinary, including philosophical, sociological, ethical and research ideas, plus a useful case study.
Part two provides the reader with a set of chapters on national and international practice developments and is in some ways covering similar ideas to Part 4 of the book.
Part three considers creative arts and public health across the life-course, although there is a chapter here about the value of music for public health that is more theoretical and evidence-based and appears to have less reference to the life-course theme.
Part four covers creative arts and public health in different settings, including criminal justice, healthcare, museums and galleries, community and also different target groups, such as sex workers, and different types of creative arts, including a thought-provoking focus on architecture/space and its impact on wellbeing.
There are some useful additions, such as photographic illustrations, tables, figures and boxes (a listing of these at the beginning of the book would have been helpful); a catalogue of abbreviations; and a thorough index. What is missing is an introduction and overall conclusion with pointers to key themes and ideas.
Overall, this book is timely. During the last decade, there has been a growing interest in the contribution of the arts to health and wellbeing. What students and practitioners will get from this text is a wide variety of insights and evidence of the impact of the creative arts on health across the lifespan. This substantial text, therefore, could positively influence the development of creative arts interventions across public health and community settings both in the United Kingdom and at an international level.