What are the active ingredients of ‘arts in health’activities? Development of the INgredients iN ArTs in hEalth (INNATE) Framework

The study aimed to map recurring characteristics of engagement in artistic activities that influence people's health and wellbeing. Using a three-step process, the researchers identified 139 potential active ingredients divided into project, people and context categories. The project components refer to the content of the artistic activity itself, while the people category indicates how people interact with the activity. Context refers to activities that include places, things and surroundings. These ingredients can interact with each other to create mechanisms that influence people's health and wellbeing. The study developed the INNATE framework, which can be used to design, implement and evaluate health-related arts activities. This framework offers support in co-designing specific interventions for different populations, evaluating the effectiveness of different interventions and reporting in detail on the impact of an arts activity in the field of healthcare.