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Publications (66)
As the proportion of older people in our population continues to rise, it is
important that the health and social care system is able to meet their needs.
Over the past 6 years, many social prescribing schemes have supported older
people although very few exclusively receive referrals from older people.
The combined knock-on effect of the COVID...
This study involved innovative research in a novel field, namely ‘object therapy’, within the framework of astudent-selected component (SSC) undertaken by second year, Phase 1 Medicine students at University College London.The project had a series of intrinsic aims: to provide medical students with communication skills, methods of assessingwellbein...
Background
The concept of collaborative approaches involves community residents in joint decision-making processes to maintain or enhance their material and social conditions. During COVID-19, public services saw the benefits of actively collaborating with communities and involving residents in decision-making processes. As communities have resourc...
Based upon recent findings of a study on the well-being of university students during the Covid-19 pandemic, who are sometimes referred to as the “lost generation,” this chapter explores the positive impact of their participation in and Art Psychotherapy intervention in the Grant Museum of Zoology in London, during Covid. The study involved student...
Background:
This paper proposes a framework for studying the potential of museum-led interventions for supporting stroke rehabilitation goals.
Methods:
The intervention was based on Kirvevold et al.'s model for interventions for post-stroke wellbeing. Mixed-methods data was collected to review benefits in a pilot study, including retrospective v...
Background
Reducing health inequalities in the UK has been a policy priority for over 20 years, yet, despite efforts to create a more equal society, progress has been limited. Furthermore, some inequalities have widened and become more apparent, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. With growing recognition of the uneven distribution of life e...
Objectives
Chronic pain is a leading cause of morbidity and disability across the world. Cultural engagement may be a valuable tool in addressing the social disconnection that often accompanies chronic pain. This study sought to develop a framework for arts in health programs targeting individuals with chronic pain.
Study design
Sequential explana...
Aims
To assess the biopsychosocial effects of participation in a unique, combined arts- and nature-based museum intervention, involving engagement with horticulture, artmaking and museum collections, on adult mental health service users.
Methods
Adult mental health service users (total n = 46 across two phases) with an average age of 53 were refer...
Give: Volunteering for Wellbeing was a project run between 2018 and 2019 funded by the National Heritage Lottery Fund. It was a partnership between researchers at University College London on behalf of the Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance in collaboration with three museum partners: Natural History Museum, the Horniman Museum and Gardens and Va...
Give: Volunteering for Wellbeing project (2018-2019) was a mixed-method study exploring quantitative and qualitative evidence for volunteer benefits over a 15-month study (2018-19). This is the short report to accompany the more detailed full Evaluation Report for the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The general broadening in recent years of what counts as legitimate
learning has included an interest in objects, including those from curated
collections such as artefacts, natural history specimens and archival items,
which may have complex cultural or scientific meaning in their own right.
A more sophisticated interaction with objects has be...
Aims:
To assess psychological wellbeing in a novel social prescription intervention for older adults called Museums on Prescription and to explore the extent of change over time in six self-rated emotions ('absorbed', 'active', 'cheerful', 'encouraged', 'enlightened' and 'inspired').
Methods:
Participants ( n = 115) aged 65-94 years were referre...
Aims:
The aim of this article is to present a new observational tool for assessing the impacts of museum object handling for people with moderate-to-severe dementia in hospital settings, focusing on wellbeing, social interaction, level of engagement and agitation. This article presents a four-step approach to collaboration towards co-developing th...
This paper presents research findings that help to understand how museum programs created opportunities to enhance wellbeing and health, and changed experiences of social isolation in older adults. The research conceptualized how program elements enabled both individual experiences and relational processes to occur. These components operated within...
Background: This review focused on evaluation of United Kingdom social prescribing schemes published in peer-reviewed journals and reports. Schemes, including arts, books, education and exercise “on prescription” refer patients to community sources of non-clinical intervention.
Method: A systematised review protocol appraised primary research mater...
Research highlights:
Re-evaluation reveals Hainan gibbon home range as c. 1-2 km2 . Hainan gibbon home range is, therefore, similar to other Nomascus gibbons. Limited data for extremely rare species does not necessarily prevent derivation of robust home range estimates.
The role of historical biogeography in conserving biodiversity is gaining increasing interest, particularly in regions such as Southeast Asia which continue to experience extensive environmental and anthropogenic changes. Southeast Asia has experienced dynamic environmental changes which have affected the spatial distribution of the region’s biodiv...
Evidence-based conservation planning is crucial for informing management decisions for species of extreme rarity, but collection of robust data on genetic status or other parameters can be extremely challenging for such species. The Hainan gibbon, possibly the world's rarest mammal, consists of a single population of c.25 individuals restricted to...
In recent years there has been a considerable increase in programmes targeting the health and wellbeing of museum audiences, through outreach or public engagement programmes. Museum learning however is an area of museum practice that has tended not to be explicitly considered in terms of health and wellbeing outcomes. Yet learning is often highligh...
The review aims to set the scene for the conditions under which social prescribing has arisen and consider the efficacy of different referral options. Its objectives are to provide definitions, models and notable examples of social prescribing schemes and to assess the means by which and the extent to which these schemes have been evaluated. The r...
Background:
For conservation of highly threatened species to be effective, it is crucial to differentiate natural population parameters from atypical behavioural, ecological and demographic characteristics associated with human disturbance and habitat degradation, which can constrain population growth and recovery. Unfortunately, these parameters...
Emerging evidence indicates that museum object handling sessions offer short-term benefits to healthcare participants. This study aimed to further understand psychological and social aspects of object handling in mental health inpatients. Older adults (N = 42) from a psychiatric inpatient ward with diagnoses of depression or anxiety took part in a...
The role of non-clinical interventions in health and social care is attracting increased interest as the value of community based assets in public health gains support. For the last six years University College London researchers have explored the advantages of a mixed methods approach to assess the therapeutic benefits of museum-focused interventi...
Background: This review offers a conceptual summary and critique of psychological theories and research concerning the use of material objects and their possible role in clinical work. Methods: Studies relating to the theory and use of material objects in different contexts and interventions were identified through a search of the following data ba...
The use of museum collections as a path to learning for university students is fast becoming a new pedagogy for higher education. Despite a strong tradition of using lectures as a way of delivering the curriculum, the positive benefits of ‘active’ and ‘experiential learning’ are being recognised in universities at both a strategic level and in dail...
The extent to which a museum object-handling intervention enhanced older adult well-being across three health care settings was examined. The program aimed to determine whether therapeutic benefits could be measured objectively using clinical scales. Facilitator-led, 30 to 40 min sessions handling and discussing museum objects were conducted in acu...
Planned and unplanned migrations, diverse social practices, and emerging disease vectors transform how health and wellbeing are understood and negotiated. Simultaneously, familiar illnesses-both communicable and non-communicable-continue to aff ect individual health and household, community, and state economies. Together, these forces shape medical...
Many museums and galleries offer services directed at improving the health and well-being of their audiences. Despite this increasing area of activity there is no standardized method for assessing the impact on participants. Recent research into heritage-in-health revealed the need for a culture-specific toolkit of measures to assess the well-being...
The hominoid foot is of particular interest to biological anthropologists, as changes in its anatomy through time reflect the adoption of terrestrial locomotion, particularly in species of Australopithecus and Homo. Understanding the osteological morphology associated with changes in whole foot function and the development of the plantar medial lon...
The majority of public health programmes are based in schools, places of employment and in community settings. Likewise, nearly all health-care interventions occur in clinics and hospitals. An underdeveloped area for public health-related planning that carries international implications is the cultural heritage sector, and specifically museums and...
Ecological niche modelling (ENM) is used to predict species' tolerance to changing environmental conditions. Understanding changes in the spatial distribution of species across time is essential in order to develop effective conservation strategies. Here we map the past and present distribution of gibbons across China, a country experiencing extens...
Context:
Nonpharmacological, arts-focused interventions in health care have demonstrated considerable improvements in cancer patient well-being, although there is a little clinically robust, empirical evidence to demonstrate the value of heritage-focused practices.
Objectives:
This study examined the effectiveness of a novel, nonpharmacological,...
The benefits of a heritage-in-health intervention were assessed using clinically accepted psychometric measures of wellbeing and happiness. Positive outcomes of arts-in-health activities are well documented and reviewed yet little empirical research has been conducted to determine the effectiveness of heritage-in-health activities. The research dre...
Orientation of the subtalar joint axis dictates inversion and eversion movements of the foot and has been the focus of evolutionary and clinical studies for a number of years. Previous studies have measured the subtalar joint axis against the axis of the whole foot, the talocrural joint axis and, recently, the principal axes of the talus. The prese...
Do museums and other heritage organisations have something to offer the healthcare sector? Do they have a role in improving health and well-being? Increasingly both heritage and healthcare organisations think they do. A broader definition of health including well-being and an emphasis on preventative medicine and multi-agency approaches to care wit...
This study explores the therapeutic potential of heritage-object handling in nurse-patient encounters with women facing cancer. Ten women participated in an object-focused conversation with a nurse specialist. Sessions were audio-tape recorded and transcribed. Kleinian theory framed the analysis to reveal the individual ways women 'used' the object...
The concept of well-being is now widely used in policy, including in the museum sector. This article addresses the need for museums to understand and be able to measure their contribution to this increasingly important instrumental value, if they are to engage with the policy. However, due to the indefinite and inconsistent definition of the concep...
Arts therapy interventions within healthcare produce positive outcomes for patients, staff and carers though little rigorous evaluation of these activities is conducted using clinically accepted measures. Similarly, heritage-specific therapeutic interventions offer comparable potential to increase well-being. Although museums and galleries have sig...
The surface morphology of the human astragalus (talus) is difficult to represent accurately using landmarks as it is essentially globular in shape. Advances in laser scanning technology allow fast and accurate capture of bone surface morphology. However, methodologies to utilise these new accurate 3D data have not been fully developed. The present...
The morphology of postcranial articular surfaces is expected to reflect their weight-bearing properties, as well as the stability and mobility of the articulations to which they contribute. Previous studies have mainly confirmed earlier predictions of isometric scaling between articular surface areas and body mass; the exception to this is 'male-ty...
The primates are among the most broadly studied mammalian orders, with the published literature containing extensive analyses of their behavior, physiology, genetics and ecology. The importance of this group in medical and biological research is well appreciated, and explains the numerous molecular phylogenies that have been proposed for most prima...
Figure S2. Maximum-clade-credibility tree of Order Primates, inferred from a species-level mitochondrial DNA supermatrix using the Bayesian phylogenetic software MrBayes. Internal nodes are labeled with posterior probabilities given as percentages, with asterisks indicating 100% support. Branch lengths are measured in substitutions per site.
Figure S3. Maximum-clade-credibility tree of Order Primates, inferred from a genus-level nuclear DNA supermatrix using the Bayesian phylogenetic software MrBayes. Internal nodes are labeled with posterior probabilities given as percentages, with asterisks indicating 100% support. Branch lengths are measured in substitutions per site.
Figure S1. Maximum-clade-credibility tree of Order Primates, inferred from a genus-level mitochondrial DNA supermatrix using the Bayesian phylogenetic software MrBayes. Internal nodes are labeled with posterior probabilities given as percentages, with asterisks indicating 100% support. Branch lengths are measured in substitutions per site.
Table S2. Primate divergence times estimated in previous studies. From left to right, the columns present dates from Purvis (1995) [11], Goodman et al. (1998) [25], Hasegawa et al. (2003) [31], Poux and Douzery (2004) [4], Yoder and Yang (2000† [27], 2004‡ [21]) and Yoder et al. (1996*) [28], Eizirik et al. (2004) [18], Raaum et al. (2005) [29], St...
Table S6. Primate fossil evidence used to calibrate phylogenetic estimates of divergence times. Times are taken from Hartwig (2002). The earliest fossil evidence for the base of each group is used to place a minimum age constraint on its parent node in the tree. Minimum and maximum age constraints of 64 to 110 MYA, respectively, were also specified...
Table S1. Bayesian divergence time estimates for primates. Estimates were made using strict- and relaxed-clock models from a mitochondrial DNA supermatrix of 219 species.
Tables S3 S4 S5. Table S3. Details of mitochondrial species-level supermatrix. Table S4. Details of mitochondrial genus-level supermatrix. Table S5. Details of nuclear genus-level supermatrix.
Panay Island bushy-tailed cloud rats Crateromys heaneyi are nocturnal, arboreal, probably herbivorous Philippinerodents. Apart from limited morphological data, there is very little reported information about them. The aim of thisstudy was to gather preliminary data with a view to developing an ethogram for these taxa, based on a captivepopulation h...
The value of touch and object handling in museums is little understood, despite the overwhelming weight of anecdotal evidence which confirms the benefits of physical interaction with objects. Touch in Museums presents a ground-breaking overview of object handling from both historical and scientific perspectives. The book aims to establish a framewo...
University Museums are outstanding resources and afford a unique opportunity for effective object based learning, the dissemination of subject specific, observational, practical and other transferable skills. Further, they represent sources of inspiration, enjoyment and could play a potentially important role in health, wellbeing and therapy. Criti...
Phylogenetic relationships within Hylobatidae are controversial. Numerous studies based on molecular, morphological and behavioral characteristics have provided conflicting results. I reanalyzed published cytochrome b gene sequence data to provide a new estimate of gibbon phylogeny. My results indicate that Nomascus, Symphalangus and Hoolock are su...
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of London, 2001.