Curating Healing Spaces: How Art Integration Can Impact Healthcare Professionals (119)
Tracks
Track 1
| Monday, April 20, 2026 |
| 11:00 AM - 11:20 AM |
| 50 Sussex, Alex Trebeck Theatre (Lower Level) |
Overview
Ms. Sarah Emily Srdarev
Details
Learning Objectives: Clearly define how art integration impacts the health of healthcare workers in hospital settings.
Speaker
Ms. Sarah Emily Srdarev
NSCAD University
Curating healing spaces: How art integration can impact healthcare professionals
Abstract
Objective:
The primary aim of this paper is to critically review previous research on the use of art in hospital settings and how these pieces can positively impact outcomes for healthcare providers. As healthcare providers spend a significant portion of their lives in this setting, which is routinely chaotic and uninviting, it’s time to break down the barrier between art and healthcare and explore how it can serve as an extended form of treatment for everyone in hospitals.
Methods:
Previous research on integrating artworks into hospitals has been conducted over the last 20 years; however, these studies have primarily focused on how art integration in healthcare settings improves patient outcomes, rather than whether they impact the healthcare workers at all.¹ This report will critically review studies of the effects of art integration on healthcare workers and explore whether art in health creates a positive impact beyond patient care.
Results:
I hypothesize that because art, on some level, helps improve patient outcomes, hospital staff working there will also be positively impacted by art integration.² Some points I expect to see include reduced burnout, improved morale and working conditions, and decreased anxiety. I also hope to see that art integration proves to be a way to ground people in reality during times of crisis and to make a safe haven feel like a safe haven.
Discussion:
While healthcare has made significant strides in recent years with advanced technologies and developments, art integration has just barely been explored. I believe the integration of artworks can have a positive effect on healthcare workers and should be considered as another way to improve long-term outcomes for those who spend a significant amount of their lives in hospitals, who aren’t patients.
Keywords: art in health; art integration; art therapy; extended healthcare.
The primary aim of this paper is to critically review previous research on the use of art in hospital settings and how these pieces can positively impact outcomes for healthcare providers. As healthcare providers spend a significant portion of their lives in this setting, which is routinely chaotic and uninviting, it’s time to break down the barrier between art and healthcare and explore how it can serve as an extended form of treatment for everyone in hospitals.
Methods:
Previous research on integrating artworks into hospitals has been conducted over the last 20 years; however, these studies have primarily focused on how art integration in healthcare settings improves patient outcomes, rather than whether they impact the healthcare workers at all.¹ This report will critically review studies of the effects of art integration on healthcare workers and explore whether art in health creates a positive impact beyond patient care.
Results:
I hypothesize that because art, on some level, helps improve patient outcomes, hospital staff working there will also be positively impacted by art integration.² Some points I expect to see include reduced burnout, improved morale and working conditions, and decreased anxiety. I also hope to see that art integration proves to be a way to ground people in reality during times of crisis and to make a safe haven feel like a safe haven.
Discussion:
While healthcare has made significant strides in recent years with advanced technologies and developments, art integration has just barely been explored. I believe the integration of artworks can have a positive effect on healthcare workers and should be considered as another way to improve long-term outcomes for those who spend a significant amount of their lives in hospitals, who aren’t patients.
Keywords: art in health; art integration; art therapy; extended healthcare.
Biography
Sarah Emily is a graduate student at NSCAD University, getting her Master of Arts in Art Education. She is also a senior writer in pharmaceutical advertising, having worked across several disease states throughout her career and now specializes in oncology. After losing her sister to cancer, who spent significant amounts of time at hospitals and clinics, and seeing how depressing those spaces were for people trying to heal, she hopes to combine both her medical writing background and arts education experience to create spaces that encourage healing through art integration.
COI Disclosure: I do not have an affiliation (financial or otherwise) with any for-profit or not-for-profit organizations
COI Disclosure: I do not have an affiliation (financial or otherwise) with any for-profit or not-for-profit organizations
