Creating Connections Between Nursing Care and the Creative Arts Therapies

Book excerpt: The primary goal of this text is to promote educational advancement for health care professionals on the topic of how creative arts therapies can assist patients and clients to achieve specific goals or outcomes. More specifically, the book seeks to create a closer connection between nursing care and the creative arts therapies in order to promote professional collaboration and to expand the concept of holistic care. Most of its twenty chapters explore the theoretical and practical implications of the creative arts therapies as illustrated in single and multiple-case studies. The chapters’ authors are creative arts therapists, nurses, social workers, therapeutic recreation specialists, and occupational therapists. They describe creative therapeutic approaches involving art, music, creative writing, dance/movement, and drama in various health care settings. This unique book is designed for a wide range of health care professionals, including nursing, the creative arts therapies, psychology, social work, medicine, occupational, recreational, and physical therapies, and others who are interested in learning more about creative treatment approaches and their application to varied care settings.