key: cord-0952238-iszauipa
authors: Charlier, P
title: Covid-19, museums, and art therapy
date: 2021-09-29
journal: Ethics Med Public Health
DOI: 10.1016/j.jemep.2021.100725
sha: c3880739569328f765a68e902b701f445b875502
doc_id: 952238
cord_uid: iszauipa

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J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f 

"Louvre Museum, 3 hours of visit each week, for two months". This is the kind of medical prescription that we could see blooming soon as part of the therapeutic management in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. And this could as much concern the patients themselves (in the process of recovery) as the uninfected in the context of psychological disorders (stress or depressive syndrome, for the most part). On September 2, 2021, Belgium decided to take the plunge and prescribe visits to the museum (reimbursed by the health system) to relieve the mental health of Covid-19 patients (mainly touched by stress and burnout related to the pandemic).

[1] Other countries already benefit from such treatment programs (50 visits per year per patient is the upper limit in Canada, for example).

To adapt to government confinement obligations, some museums offer another alternative: that of virtual museums, as well as digital technology allowing access to specially adapted content. [2] In Paris, France, the musée du quai Branly -Jacques Chirac (specialised in extra-western arts) was thus a pioneer in this field, offering anthropological minutes and surprising focuses on works opening the public to an artistic escape and discovery.

[3] This therapeutic mood is in close relationship with art therapy theories initiated in the management of neuro-psychiatric disorders (mainly dementia) and chronic pain: in this context, museums can play a welcoming role, and an interface between creators, creations and patients (some of whom may be caregivers themselves). [4] [5] [6] [7] They also have the possibility of being exported outside the walls, for example to the hospital room in the form of reproductions of works of art brought by mediators (Louvre Museum) [8] , or in the form of real anthropological and/or archaeological objects moved and presented by the curators themselves (musée du quai Branly -Jacques Chirac 

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Art, nature and mental health: assessing the biopsychosocial effects of a 'creative green prescriptions 'museum programme involving horticulture, art making and collections

The art of analgesia: a pilot study of art museum tours to decrease pain and social disconnection among individuals with chronic pain

The art and nature of health: a study of therapeutic practice in museums

Museum moving to inpatients: Le Louvre à l'hôpital

Museums as therapeutic environments and the contribution of art therapy