By combining technology with interactive art activities, older people at home can have museums come to them — and this can support their physical, mental and social well-being, a new study reports.
“This participatory art-based activity could become a model that could be offered in museums and arts institutions worldwide to promote active and healthy aging,” said lead author Dr. Olivier Beauchet, a professor of medicine at the University of Montreal.
The biggest benefit of the 45-minute virtual museum tours, which also included a 15-minute question-and-answer session with a museum guide, appear to be in reducing frailty, the researchers said.
Frailty refers to a “vulnerable condition exposing individuals to incident adverse health events and disabilities that negatively impact their quality of life and increase health and social costs,” Beauchet said. “Health and social systems need to address the challenge of limiting frailty and its related adverse consequences in the aging population.”
The new study is a follow-up to research that examined the potential health advantages of a senior program run by MMFA called “Thursdays at the Museum.”
Art-based initiatives are examples of strategies that the World Health Organization supports for managing chronic diseases, Beauchet said. WHO’s 2015 Aging and Health Program highlighted the importance of promoting culture through community-based organizations to enhance health.
Credits: Health Day
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