| Popis: |
Developing strong mental health and wellbeing of young people is one of the most pressing issues Australian Society is currently facing. Anxiety and depressive disorders are increasing worldwide in adolescents with social, political, and environmental causes implicated. In Australia a post pandemic report on youth mental health and wellbeing found that 51% had difficulty completing daily tasks with 34% experiencing high or very high levels of distress (Headspace 2021). Worldwide public health policy has gradually shifted from a deterministic set of individualised ill-health factors to include a more holistic view of health and wellbeing (Mackay 2016). The World Health Organisation’s definition of health has come to include social determinants such as education, income and social protection, food and job security, housing, social inclusion, structural conflict and affordable and accessible health services. Current research indicates that social determinants “can be more important than health care or lifestyle choices in influencing health” (WHO 2021). What is still missing from this definition of wellbeing is the role of creative expression, arts and cultural values as imperative to cultural wellbeing (Mackay 2016). This research evaluation was commissioned by Kulture Break, a dance company with a focus on inclusion and wellbeing for young people. The aim of the research was to identify how their creative arts programs were able to influence young people’s wellbeing; specifically, in terms of social inclusion, confidence, sense of belonging and life aspirations. Further to this the research aimed to find out how dance as an expressive art can improve wellbeing and social cohesion within communities and better inform understandings of how wellbeing is experiences to inform nation wellbeing policy. This evaluative research project reviewed how dance programs at Kulture Break are implicated in the cultural wellbeing of young people that attend their classes. |
