Graphic Scores

Using sound and art to bring together young people living with Parkinson’s and improve mental health.

In the general population, improving social participation has been shown to improve both mental and physical health, and reduce use of health services. In older people with Parkinson’s, evidence suggests that physical interventions conducted within a group setting not only impact physical symptoms, but also improve mood. This improvement in mood has been shown to be mediated by an enhanced sense of social cohesion. Group-based activities that foster a sense of fellowship, promote shared group identity and have a common goal appear to improve mood in people with Parkinson’s. Therefore, this project proposes a group-based intervention aiming to improve social cohesion specifically in young people with Parkinson’s may improve mental health and coping, leading to better health outcomes and reduced use of NHS resources.

Traditional models of health care delivery focus on treating individuals, but the greatest evidence for improving social participation and cohesion in the general population appears to be from interventions that facilitate community-based change, outside of mental health services. In order to develop acceptable, contextually-appropriate and effective interventions, these should be co-created with stakeholders. Arts-based participatory action research has been shown to be particularly effective in helping disadvantaged young people to create inclusive communities, improve social cohesion and enhance psychological wellbeing. Thus, a co-created, cross-disciplinary intervention appears to be the optimal methodology for reducing social isolation in young people with Parkinson’s.

This project will use collaborative, cross-disciplinary approaches to explore the psychological issues facing young people with Parkinson’s. Building on previous work that co-created a soundscape that combined participants’ narratives with a musical score created by one of the participants, the project will pilot this intervention in a series of group-based workshops to: (1) identify and prioritize the psychological issues faced by young people with Parkinson’s; (2) invite participants to explore and represent these issues using words and images in the creation of notation for one large-scale graphic score; (3) decide the musical instruments, write the performance notes, and name the musical composition; and (4) hold a celebratory event for the live public performance of the composition.