African Americans and the Arts: Arts-Based Health Interventions for Black and African American Communities 2024 Reading List

Preface

This brief bibliography contains resources focused on the intersection between health and the creative arts for Black and African Americans. The resources provide insight into the role of creative arts in Black and African American health and wellness, including arts-based health interventions and the use of art as a tool for social change and community health. They also highlight the importance of increasing diversity in the field of therapeutic creative arts and removing barriers to accessing to arts-based interventions for Black and African Americans.

The list contains blog posts from health care organizations, journal articles, and other scholarly works such as masters’ theses. These resources are organized into four (4) sections by topic:

1. Creative arts-based interventions for mental and physical health.
2. Social change and community healing through art.
3. Art as a tool for research and health promotion.
4. Representation in the arts and access to arts-based interventions.

The resources in this list are available to read or download for free. For more resources on the health of racial and ethnic minority populations, please visit the OMH Knowledge Center online catalog, links to an external website, opens in a new tab.

Introduction

Black and African Americans face significant health disparities, including lower projected life expectancies, opens in a new tab and higher burdens of diseases and conditions such as diabetes, opens in a new tab, hypertension, opens in a new tab, and HIV, opens in a new tab than non-Hispanic white Americans, as well as higher maternal mortality rates, opens in a new tab and firearm-related homicide rates, opens in a new tab (among Black males) than any other racial or ethnic group. These health disparities can be linked to significant structural and social barriers to health equity, including income, links to an external website, opens in a new tab and health insurance inequality, links to an external website, opens in a new tab, health literacy disparities, opens in a new tab, and the detrimental health effects of racism, opens in a new tab.

The creative arts can serve as a powerful health intervention for Black Americans, strengthening coping skills and fostering healing from racial trauma and stress. For instance, a music-based mindfulness intervention, opens in a new tab tailored to Black and African Americans showed promise in decreasing race-based anxiety.

The arts can also promote social change, opens in a new tab. For example, works of art educate and deepen people’s understanding of racial injustice and promote healing from trauma at a community level, links to an external website, opens in a new tab.

In addition to promoting healing at the individual and community levels, the arts can serve as a tool in public health research and health promotion. With photovoice research methodology, opens in a new tab, study participants express themselves and their communities through photography, allowing researchers to partner more effectively with community members and build more meaningful outreach and interventions. Health promotion interventions culturally tailored to a specific population, such as the Hip Hop Stroke, opens in a new tab initiative designed to teach urban minority children how to recognize stroke symptoms, have shown promising results in increasing health literacy and improving health outcomes.

Although studies show that the use of creative arts-based interventions and therapies for Black and African Americans can lead to positive outcomes, there is a lack of diversity in arts-based intervention research, links to an external website, opens in a new tab and in the field of art therapy, links to an external website, opens in a new tab. The resources in this reading list highlight that more inclusive research is needed to design effective, culturally tailored arts-based health interventions for this population, and that an increase in field diversity could help art therapy to reach Black and African Americans who may not otherwise have access.

Creative Arts-Based Interventions

A Digital Music-Based Mindfulness Intervention for Black Americans with Elevated Race-Based Anxiety: A Multiple-Baseline Pilot Study., opens in a new tab Jones, G.; Herrmann, F.; Nock, M. K. JMIR Formative Research, v. 7 (August 16): Art. e49284, 2023.

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of a Musical Cognitive Restructuring App for Black Inner-City Girls: Survey, Usage, and Focus Group Evaluation., opens in a new tab Neal-Barnett, A., Stadulis, R., Ellzey, D., Jean, E., Rowell, T., et al. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, v. 7, #6 (June): Art. e11310, 2019.

Music Therapy for Pain in Black and White Cancer Patients: A Retrospective Study., opens in a new tab Lichtl, A., Casaw, C., Edwards, J., Popkin, K., Yu, J., et al. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, v. 64, #5 (November), p. 478-485, 2022.

Unmaking Racism Through Expressive Arts Therapy with Black American Women: A Literature Review., links to an external website, opens in a new tab Cropper, S. Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses: Art. 510, 2021.

Vocal Music Therapy for Chronic Pain Management in Inner-City African Americans: A Mixed Methods Feasibility Study., opens in a new tab Bradt, J., Norris, M., Shim, M., Gracely, E. J., & Gerrity, P. Journal of Music Therapy, v. 53, #2 (Summer), p. 178-206, 2016.

Social Change and Community Healing Through Art

Art, Anti-Racism and Health Equity: "Don't Ask Me Why, Ask Me How!", opens in a new tab Griffith, D. M., & Semlow, A. R. Ethnicity & Disease, v. 30, #3 (Summer), p. 373-380, 2020.

Mental Health During COVID-19: Community-Based Arts Addressing African American Experiences., links to an external website, opens in a new tab Garlock, M. A., Sahle, E. N., Kelly, S. E., Williams, M. S., & Kirby, S. L. Africana Public Interest Journal, v.1 (Spring), 2023.

Using the Arts to Address Racism in Health Care., links to an external website, opens in a new tab Strongin, R. AcademyHealth Blog, academyhealth.org, 2021.

Research and Health Promotion Through Art

Beginning a Partnership with Photovoice to Explore Environmental Health and Health Inequities in Minority Communities., opens in a new tab Kovacic, M. B., Stigler, S., Smith, A., Kidd, A., & Vaughn, L. M. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, v. 11, #11 (October 27), p. 11132-11151, 2014.

How Can We PrEP? Exploring Black MSM's Experiences with Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Through Photovoice., opens in a new tab LeMasters, K., Atkins, K., Oloonabadi, S. A., Munn, T., Eng, E., et al. AIDS Education and Prevention, v. 33, #1 (February), p. 16-32, 2021.

Improving Community Stroke Preparedness in the Hip Hop Stroke Randomized Clinical Trial., opens in a new tab Williams, O., Leighton-Herrmann Quinn, E., Teresi, J., Eimicke, J. P., Kong, J., et al. Stroke, v. 49, #4 (April), p. 972-979, 2018.

A Review of Hip Hop-Based Interventions for Health Literacy, Health Behaviors, and Mental Health., opens in a new tab Robinson, C., Seaman, E. L., Montgomery, L., & Winfrey, A. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, v. 5, #3 (June), p. 468-484, 2018.

Rise Up, Get Tested, and Live: An Arts-Based Colorectal Cancer Educational Program in a Faith-Based Setting., opens in a new tab Friedman, D. B., Adams, S. A., Brandt, H. M., Heiney, S. P., Hébert, J. R., et al. Journal of Cancer Education, v. 34, #3 (June), p. 550–555, 2019.

Representation in the Arts and Access to Arts-Based Interventions

The Creator of a Viral Black Fetus Medical Illustration Blends Art and Activism., links to an external website, opens in a new tab Limm, D. HealthCity, healthcity.bmc.org, 2022.

Efforts in Increasing Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Field of Art Therapy., links to an external website, opens in a new tab Awais, Y. J., & Yali, A. M. Art Therapy, v. 32, #3 (August 17), p. 112-119, 2015.

Honoring African-American Art Therapy Pioneers., links to an external website, opens in a new tab American Art Therapy Association Blog, arttherapy.org, 2019.

Understanding Black Experiences and Access Barriers in the Expressive Arts Activities and Therapies., links to an external website, opens in a new tab Harris, J., & Marcelo, A. K. Psychology, Art. 6, 2021.