Something to Hang my Life on: The Health Benefits of Writing Poetry for People with Serious Illnesses

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avondale-bepress-to-dspace.facultyArts
avondale-bepress-to-dspace.peer_review_statusPeer reviewed before publication
avondale-bepress.abstract<p><strong><em> </em></strong><strong>Objective</strong>: We aimed to explore the effect of a poetry writing program for people who had experienced a serious illness.</p> <p><strong>Method</strong>: For this study we randomly assigned 28 volunteer participants with a history of serious illness, usually cancer, to one of two poetry writing workshops. Each group met weekly for 2 hours for 8 weeks. The second group was wait-listed to enable comparison between the two groups. We used the Kessler-10, a measure of wellbeing, before and after the workshops and also interviewed the participants at these times.</p> <p><strong>Results</strong>: Participants responded enthusiastically and each group demonstrated an increase in wellbeing over the course of their workshop, moving them from medium to low risk on the K10. Participants enjoyed the challenge of writing and the companionship of other group members.</p> <p><strong>Conclusions</strong>: Psychiatrists, especially those working in liaison psychiatry, are in a position to encourage patients who have experienced a serious illness to explore writing as a way of coming to terms with their experiences.<em></em></p>
avondale-bepress.articleid1039
avondale-bepress.authorsCarolyn Rickett
avondale-bepress.authorsCedric Greive
avondale-bepress.authorsJill Gordon
avondale-bepress.context-key6785533
avondale-bepress.coverpage-urlhttps://research.avondale.edu.au/arts_papers/39
avondale-bepress.document-typearticle
avondale-bepress.field.author_faculty_disciplineArts
avondale-bepress.field.comments<p>The article available to download is not the version of record and is used by permission of the publisher.</p> <p>The published article may be accessed from the publisher <a href="http://apy.sagepub.com/content/19/3/265.full.pdf+html">here</a>.</p>
avondale-bepress.field.custom_citation<p>Rickett, C., Grieve, C., & Gordon, J. (2011). Something to hang my life on: The health benefits of writing poetry for people with serious illnesses. <em>Australasian Psychiatry, 19</em>(3), 265-268. doi:10.3109/10398562.2011.562298</p>
avondale-bepress.field.doihttps://doi.org/10.3109/10398562.2011.562298
avondale-bepress.field.embargo_date2015-03-05T00:00:00Z
avondale-bepress.field.for110317 Physiotherapy
avondale-bepress.field.issn1039-8562
avondale-bepress.field.issue_number3
avondale-bepress.field.journalAustralasian Psychiatry
avondale-bepress.field.page_numbers265-268
avondale-bepress.field.peer_reviewBefore publication
avondale-bepress.field.publication_date2011-06-01T00:00:00Z
avondale-bepress.field.source_fulltext_urlhttp://apy.sagepub.com/
avondale-bepress.field.source_publication<p>This article was originally published as:</p> <p>Rickett, C., Grieve, C., & Gordon, J. (2011). Something to hang my life on: The health benefits of writing poetry for people with serious illnesses. <em>Australasian Psychiatry, 19</em>(3), 265-268. doi: 10.3109/10398562.2011.562298</p> <p>ISSN: 1039-8562</p>
avondale-bepress.field.volume_number19
avondale-bepress.fulltext-urlhttps://research.avondale.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1039&amp;context=arts_papers&amp;unstamped=1
avondale-bepress.keywordscancer
avondale-bepress.keywordspoetry
avondale-bepress.keywordspsychotherapy
avondale-bepress.keywordswellbeing
avondale-bepress.label39
avondale-bepress.publication-date2011-06-01T00:00:00Z
avondale-bepress.publication-titleArts Papers and Journal Articles
avondale-bepress.statepublished
avondale-bepress.submission-date2015-03-05T18:50:41Z
avondale-bepress.submission-patharts_papers/39
avondale-bepress.titleSomething to Hang my Life on: The Health Benefits of Writing Poetry for People with Serious Illnesses
avondale-bepress.typearticle
dc.contributor.authorGordon, Jill
dc.contributor.authorGreive, Cedric
dc.contributor.authorRickett, Carolyn
dc.date.accessioned2023-11-01T00:39:23Z
dc.date.available2023-11-01T00:39:23Z
dc.date.issued2011-06-01
dc.date.submitted2015-03-05T18:50:41Z
dc.description.abstract<p><strong><em> </em></strong><strong>Objective</strong>: We aimed to explore the effect of a poetry writing program for people who had experienced a serious illness.</p> <p><strong>Method</strong>: For this study we randomly assigned 28 volunteer participants with a history of serious illness, usually cancer, to one of two poetry writing workshops. Each group met weekly for 2 hours for 8 weeks. The second group was wait-listed to enable comparison between the two groups. We used the Kessler-10, a measure of wellbeing, before and after the workshops and also interviewed the participants at these times.</p> <p><strong>Results</strong>: Participants responded enthusiastically and each group demonstrated an increase in wellbeing over the course of their workshop, moving them from medium to low risk on the K10. Participants enjoyed the challenge of writing and the companionship of other group members.</p> <p><strong>Conclusions</strong>: Psychiatrists, especially those working in liaison psychiatry, are in a position to encourage patients who have experienced a serious illness to explore writing as a way of coming to terms with their experiences.<em></em></p>
dc.description.versionBefore publication
dc.identifier.citation<p>Rickett, C., Grieve, C., & Gordon, J. (2011). Something to hang my life on: The health benefits of writing poetry for people with serious illnesses. <em>Australasian Psychiatry, 19</em>(3), 265-268. doi:10.3109/10398562.2011.562298</p>
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.3109/10398562.2011.562298
dc.identifier.issn1039-8562
dc.identifier.urihttps://research.avondale.edu.au/handle/123456789/06785533
dc.language.isoen_us
dc.provenance<p>This article was originally published as:</p> <p>Rickett, C., Grieve, C., & Gordon, J. (2011). Something to hang my life on: The health benefits of writing poetry for people with serious illnesses. <em>Australasian Psychiatry, 19</em>(3), 265-268. doi: 10.3109/10398562.2011.562298</p> <p>ISSN: 1039-8562</p>
dc.rights<p>The article available to download is not the version of record and is used by permission of the publisher.</p> <p>The published article may be accessed from the publisher <a href="http://apy.sagepub.com/content/19/3/265.full.pdf+html">here</a>.</p>
dc.subjectcancer
dc.subjectpoetry
dc.subjectpsychotherapy
dc.subjectwellbeing
dc.titleSomething to Hang my Life on: The Health Benefits of Writing Poetry for People with Serious Illnesses
dc.typeJournal Article
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