• Amsterdam UMC

• Academic,
• Artistic research,
• Co-creation

• Healthcare & Well-being,
• Mental health,
• Arts & Culture

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

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.

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