Musical creativity support tools for bereavement support

TY - JOUR

T1 - Musical creativity support tools for bereavement support

AU - Cheatley, Lee

AU - Ackerman, Margareta

AU - Pease, Alison

AU - Moncur, Wendy

N1 - This work was supported by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [1816118]. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Self-expression is central to mental well-being and mental health therapy. Art therapy offers a wide range of expressive mechanisms, allowing individuals to process their emotions when traditional therapies prove unsuccessful. However, a lack of expertise or comfort with artistic expression, along with cost and waiting times, may hinder one's ability to receive needed mental health support. Creative machines can offer novel therapeutic approaches enabling the bereaved to engage in creative expression as and when needed. In this paper, we apply a co-creative songwriting system, ALYSIA, as a new form of therapy for those who had recently suffered the loss of a loved one. We evaluate the utility of this creative system in aiding bereaved individuals through user testing. The utility of collaborative creative systems for adaptation to bereavement is discussed and may have implications for other therapeutic applications.

AB - Self-expression is central to mental well-being and mental health therapy. Art therapy offers a wide range of expressive mechanisms, allowing individuals to process their emotions when traditional therapies prove unsuccessful. However, a lack of expertise or comfort with artistic expression, along with cost and waiting times, may hinder one's ability to receive needed mental health support. Creative machines can offer novel therapeutic approaches enabling the bereaved to engage in creative expression as and when needed. In this paper, we apply a co-creative songwriting system, ALYSIA, as a new form of therapy for those who had recently suffered the loss of a loved one. We evaluate the utility of this creative system in aiding bereaved individuals through user testing. The utility of collaborative creative systems for adaptation to bereavement is discussed and may have implications for other therapeutic applications.

KW - art therapy

KW - bereavement

KW - computational creativity

KW - Human–computer interaction

KW - songwriting

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85124756221

U2 - 10.1080/14626268.2022.2034648

DO - 10.1080/14626268.2022.2034648

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85124756221

SN - 1462-6268

VL - 33

SP - 1

EP - 17

JO - Digital Creativity

JF - Digital Creativity

IS - 1

ER -