Bringing Lived Lives to Swift’s Asylum: a psychiatric hospital perspective

Wellcome Open Research

article

Kevin M. Malone¹  Eimear Cleary¹  Cecily C. Kelleher¹  Janis Jefferies²  Abbie Lane¹  James V. Lucey³  Seamus McGuiness⁴ 

[1] Department of Psychiatry, University College Dublin;Goldsmith College London;Department of Psychiatry, St. Patrick's University Hospital;GMIT Centre for Creative Arts & Media, Galway Mayo Institute of Technology

关键词: Stigma;    Mental Illness;    Psychiatric Hospitalization;    Suicidal Ideation;    Psychoeducation;   

DOI  :  10.12688/wellcomeopenres.15588.3

学科分类：内科医学

来源: Wellcome

【 摘 要 】

Background: Few “interventions” around suicide and stigma have reached into psychiatric institutions.Lived Lives is a science-arts approach to addressing suicide and stigma, informed by a psychobiographical and visual arts autopsy. The resulting artworks and mediated exhibition (Lived Lives), has facilitated dialogue, response and public action around stigma-reduction, consistent with a community intervention. Recent evidence fromLived Lives moved us to consider how it may situate within a psychiatric hospital.Methods:Lived Lives manifested in St. Patrick’s University Hospital (Ireland’s oldest and largest psychiatric hospital) in November 2017.   A mixed-methods approach was used to evaluate the exhibition as a potential intervention to address stigma around suicide, with quantitative and qualitative data collected via written questionnaire and oral data collected via video documentation.  Bereavement support was available. A Clinician and an artist also provided independent evaluation.Results:  86 participants engaged with the exhibition, with 68 completing questionnaire data. Audiences included service users, policy makers, health professionals, senior hospital administrators and members of the public. 62% of participants who completed questionnaires were suicide-bereaved; 46% had experienced a mental health difficulty, and 35% had been suicidal in the past. 91% thoughtLived Lives could be of benefit in the aftermath of a suicide death. Half of participants thoughtLived Lives could help reduce suicidal feelings, whereas 88% thought it could benefit those with Mental Health difficulties. The emotional response was of a visceral nature, including fear, anger, sadness, disgust and anxiety.Conclusions:Lived Lives sits comfortably in discomfort, unafraid to call out the home-truths about stigma and its pervasive and pernicious impact, and with restoring identity at its core.Lived Lives can operate within a psychiatric hospital, as well as in community. The challenge is to move it forward for greater exposure and impacts in at-risk communities.

【 授权许可】

CC BY