Arts in Health: Developing a Perinatal Bereavement Program Through Sociomaterial Participatory Action Research

This dissertation utilizes arts-based research methods to analyze, refine, and implement arts in health programming for those experiencing the grief of perinatal loss. Through a sociomaterial lens, the Care Box Project was developed to co-create affective material encounters with both patient-families and hospital caregivers. Using photovoice to recursively analyze care material encounters, I ask how we tell stories of loss in the hospital space. The primary objective of this arts-based research was to understand the socio-emotional supports during perinatal loss at the Women’s Care Center at Covenant Children’s Hospital through institutional ecological changes. Secondarily, I argue for an arts in health paradigm that embraces reflexive models for interdisciplinary, co-created solutions for particular hospital ecologies. The Care Box Project considers the arts as not only useful, but a collaborative link between diverse roles, views, and ontologies. This research expands upon the narrow lens of arts in medicine as a tool for improved medical outcomes and adds to the literature on how materials affect specific spaces and bodies.