Creative Arts in Palliative Care

This module aims to provide learners with a critical awareness of the opportunities and challenges of the practice of participatory creative arts in contemporary palliative care. The module will focus on the premise that the arts and creativity are central human activities, enhancing emotional stability, personal enrichment and self-fulfillment, which can play an important part in person-centred end of life care.  The module will create a critical awareness of the contemporary themes around this idea. The core of the module will be a series of experiential participatory workshops in the creative arts, supported by a deep engagement with theory. This will focus on application to practice and students will be encouraged to consider aspects of the creative arts in palliative care from their own area of practice and application of theory.The core competences to be developed in this module are centred on communication, enabling an understanding of the impact that multiple loss (including occupational roles and functional independence) may have on the behaviour and decision-making of people with life-limiting conditions and their families, and to take this into account when planning care.

1. Critically analyse the opportunities and challenges of the practice of participatory creative arts in contemporary palliative care.

2. Critically analyse the main theories and models of creative arts practice in contemporary palliative care.

3. Critically analyse the main theories and models of non-linguistic forms of communication, expression and representation applicable to the creative arts.

4. Demonstrate a range of skills, tools and approaches to the use of creative arts in palliative care

5. Demonstrate the flexibility to be able to act in a wide and often unpredictable variety of ill-defined contexts.

6. Critically appraise and evaluate creative arts work in palliative care.