$300,000 Arts and Quality of Life Grant

The Arts and Quality of Life Research Center received a $300,000 grant through the State of Pennsylvania Formula Fund. Four research projects were supported with these monies, all of which focus on enhancing the quality of emotional care for multicultural inpatients with cancer or heart disease through the arts. The specific research projects were as follows:

• Determining Emotional Support and Coping Needs of Patients with Cancer or Heart Disease
• Creative, Culturally-Informed Approaches for Addressing Emotional and Physical Parameters, Quality of Life and Hospital Satisfaction of Multicultural Inpatients with Cancer or Heart Disease
• Creative Approaches for Reducing Burnout in Medical Personnel, and
• Cochrane Systematic Reviews on the Effectiveness of the Arts in Enhancing the Quality of Life and the Development a Comprehensive Database on Arts and the Quality of Life for Professionals and the General Public. These reviews are ongoing.

These studies are among the first to investigate the emotional needs of multicultural hospital patients, the influence that music therapy may have on their health and quality of life issues as well as the effect of music therapy on burnout of the staff members who care for them. In addition, the grant supported much needed systematic reviews of the literature.