Creative Health in Paediatric Care and/or Social Prescribing in the Community: Co-designed Arts and Digital Interventions to Improve Health Outcomes for Children and Families in the UK

About the Project

Arts-led joined Arts & Health PHD scholarship. A collaboration between the Leeds School of Arts/Creative Arts and Health Research Lab (CAHREL) and the School of Health/Centre for Health Promotion Research (CHPR).

Children and families accessing paediatric healthcare often face complex emotional, social, and physical challenges. Creative health and social prescribing approaches (including participatory arts and digital technologies) are increasingly recognised for their potential to improve wellbeing, communication, and health outcomes.

The UK government's 10-Year Health Plan officially entitled "Fit for the Future" and published in July 2025, sets out a vision to transition the NHS from an analogue, hospital-centric system to a digital-first, community-based service by 2035. Backed by £29 billion in investment, the plan aims to tackle the "5 big bets" of digital healthcare: data, AI, genomics, wearables, and robotics.

This PhD, based at Leeds Beckett University, builds on existing research in Applied Theatre and Creative Health to explore how Arts and digital creative methods and tools can be integrated into healthcare settings and/or support social prescribing in the community to better support children and families who have health conditions and/ or are in contact with paediatric healthcare.

Research Aims

The project aims to co-design, implement, and evaluate creative arts and digital interventions that enhance paediatric healthcare experiences and patient outcomes within NHS services and/or improve the integration and health and wellbeing impacts of social prescribing and arts in the community.

Methods

Using a co-design approach, the research may involve children, families, NHS clinicians, arts practitioners, and digital innovators. Participatory methods will include storytelling, puppetry, animation, and immersive tools such as VR and AR. A mixed-methods design may be used to evaluate impact, incorporating qualitative insights (e.g. narratives, observations) and quantitative indicators (e.g. wellbeing, quality of life and engagement measures) alongside arts-based methodologies (performance, art, etc.).