The impact of the visual arts on medicine, healthcare and patient well-being, including art therapy interventions, was explored at a symposium at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q).
The Visual Arts and Medicine event, part of the WCM-Q Lives in Medicine series, explained the theory and practice of art therapy in patient care, and also discussed ways in which visual art in healthcare settings such as hospitals can positively affect mood and therefore potentially lead to better healthcare outcomes.
Sara Powell and Andrew Wright, two licensed art therapy specialists gave a joint presentation summarising the theory of art therapy and its applications in patient care and presented a sample case study demonstrating the effectiveness of art therapy in practice. Dr Aicha Hind Rifai, Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, gave a joint presentation alongside her WCM-Q colleague Dr Alan Weber, Associate Professor of English.
The activity was open to healthcare professionals of all disciplines from WCM-Q and other healthcare institutions and was accredited locally by the Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners-Accreditation Department (QCHP-AD) and internationally by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME).
