Visual Art and Wellbeing for Young Adult Carers
A qualitative exploration of the social meaning and value of community-based group visual art initiatives for the wellbeing of young adult carers in Nigeria and the UK
PhD Researcher: Galina Gardiner
Supervisors: Professor Frances Griffiths & Dr Jenny Harlock
Who are young adult carers?
Young adult carers (or caregivers) are young adults who provide unpaid care for family members or friends with health problems. Young adult carers are thought to make up between 2-8% of young adults worldwide. Their caring duties can conflict with important life choices as they grow into adulthood. Many have little support. They can become stressed, isolated and unhappy, with poor mental health.
Mental health problems often develop during young adulthood. Therefore, it is important to help young adult carers maintain their wellbeing. 'Wellbeing' describes positive aspects of health such as happiness, contentment and resilience. Good wellbeing helps us stay healthy and cope with life鈥檚 difficulties. Some studies show that creating art together can benefit the wellbeing of young people.
I am exploring the potential of community-based visual art groups to support the wellbeing of young adult carers in Nigeria and the UK.
What we already know
Previous research has led to general consensus that engaging in art can benefit peoples鈥� wellbeing. This is a two-way street: creativity and wellbeing are often interdependent. When we feel safe, happy and relaxed, we tend to be more creative. When we become deeply absorbed in creative activities we may experience a feeling of 鈥榝low鈥� which further enhances our mood and enables us to see different perspectives.
Different types of art have different impacts, and visual art has some unique characteristics. The saying 鈥榓 picture paints a thousand words鈥� reflects the strong emotional impact of an image. Visual art enables wordless expression and communication for those who struggle to talk. Doing art in groups can have added benefits such as bonding, validation, respite and relaxation. These benefits are described in studies with different groups of people, including marginalised youth and older caregivers.
What we don鈥檛 know
The link between group visual art and wellbeing has not yet been studied with young adult carers. Art-for-wellbeing studies have mostly focused on high income countries, and the people taking part have not been given much involvement in how the study is done. I aim to find out what it means to young adult carers of different cultures to take part in visual art groups, particularly in relation to their sense of wellbeing. In doing so I am asking the following questions:
- How do young adult carers think and feel about taking part in visual art groups in relation to their sense of wellbeing?
- What do young adult carers in different cultures think about art, wellbeing and caregiving, and how does this relate to existing social and psychological theories?
- What are the implications of offering participants more involvement in the research?
To answer these questions I worked with carer鈥檚 charities and creative organisations to run four art projects. These projects involved visual art activities and research activities exploring how young adult carers felt about taking part in art groups. Two groups were in Nigeria and two in the UK, to see how visual art activities are experienced in different places and cultures. As well as taking part in art activities, young adult carers were invited to be co-researchers. They took part in the research and gave us their own insights about what it is like to be involved in art and research. The young adults and I generated data in a variety of ways including taking photos, recording videos, writing in journals, creating art relating to the research topic, reflective group discussions, and individual interviews. Staff on the projects also took part in interviews.
Each art project was treated as a 鈥榗ase study.鈥� Projects were carefully planned using what we know about art, wellbeing and caregiving. Art activities were led by local artists. Art materials and techniques suited the local culture and environment, meaning that the young adult carers were more likely to relate to and benefit from art sessions. The data generated was qualitative, focusing on meaning rather than measurement. The young adults chose how they generated this data and which aspects of wellbeing they focused on. Such an approach has been found to work well with marginalised young people. It can also help reduce the Western bias present in many studies about art and wellbeing.
The research aims to benefit young adult carers directly through taking part in art and research activities. It also hopes to benefit them indirectly by sharing the findings with health and care decision-makers.
Updates
November 2024. Nigeria Visit. I spent one month in south-west Nigeria, hosted by the University of Ibadan. I learned about ethical methods of conducting fieldwork with marginalised populations. I had the opportunity to meet several young caregivers and talk about their caregiving responsibilities and needs, and about attitudes to caregiving in Nigerian society. I also met with a range of academic experts in Ibadan and other higher education institutions. We discussed Nigerian perspectives on wellbeing and caregiving, as well as Nigerian art traditions, materials and techniques. This experience provided a valuable grounding for my fieldwork. Many thanks to the staff at the University of Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo University and Ibadan polytechnic for their generosity in hosting me, and to the young adult caregivers and local arts experts for sharing their time and experience.
January 2025. UK Fieldwork. I am working with project partners to recruit young adult caregivers and plan art projects in the UK. This phase of fieldwork will run from February to May.
May 2025. UK Fieldwork. I have had the pleasure of working with two groups of young adult carers doing visual art projects. One group was in south-west England with the help of a local Young Carers charity. The other group was in London with the generous support of arts charity , and a local carer鈥檚 hub. We experimented with a variety of art media including graffiti art, collaborative painting, watercolour and lino printing. The young adult carers created some beautiful pieces of art to take home, and their collaborative artworks have been displayed at different venues. The young adult carers were co-researchers during the art projects and documented their experiences through photos, videos, journals and group conversations. This has generated valuable data for the study. I am currently interviewing the young adult carers and co-workers to learn more about their experiences of doing visual art in a group context.
December 2025. Nigeria Fieldwork. I spent October and November in south-west Nigeria working with two wonderful groups of young adult carers. One project was run in a semi-rural community in collaboration with Obafemi Awolowo University and with support from the Caremi Foundation. The other project took place in Ibadan with help from Ibadan University. Both groups of caregivers gained inspiration from local galleries and were taught by local artists. They created some amazing artworks using locally available scrap materials. Artworks included mirror frames decorated with fabric offcuts and plastic straws, jewellery made from recycled paper quilling, pointillist paintings on re-used cardboard, and intricate scrap metal sculptures. The end-of-project displays were much admired, and one group was invited to create a mural on the wall of one of the university buildings. As with the UK groups, the young adult caregivers were co-researchers during the art projects, producing data integral to the project using photography, film, journalling, group reflection and interviews.
April 2026. Cross-group webinar and online gallery (in progress)Link opens in a new window. On April 2nd, all four groups of young adult caregivers - 2 in Nigeria and 2 in the UK - met together online. The event was fully funded by the Society & Culture Spotlight. We shared our experiences and artworks, then brainstormed ideas to showcase caregivers' art together in an online gallery. This is being designed and created collaboratively - please click on the link above to see our progress so far.
The event was fully funded by the Society & Culture Spotlight.
I am currently analysing data from the four arts initiatives, writing and presenting preliminary findings, including a presentation at the conference in October 2026.
About Galina
Educational background and interests
I have practised as a professional artist for 20 years, including creating community murals and running workshops for a variety of groups. During the Covid lockdowns I had the privilege of running art clubs for a group of young adult carers. During this time I also completed a Psychology MSc. Both experiences sparked my interest in how visual art can give respite and help people to relax, create and socialise. My subsequent work as a psychology researcher at 果冻传媒 Medical School, exploring paramedic decision-making with the PROTECTeD (pre-hospital resuscitation decision-making) team, led to the opportunity to study art and wellbeing with young adult carers for a PhD.
Contact details
Useful links
Young Carers Alliance. A network of over 200 organisations and 700 individuals committed to improving the lives of young carers, young adult carers and their families.
Create. The UK鈥檚 leading charity empowering lives, reducing isolation and enhancing wellbeing through the creative arts.
Arts in Medicine. A Nigerian-based charity providing artistic and creative interventions to bolster the health and well-being of community members.
Publications
Smyth, M. A., Brown, T. P., Fothergill, R., Griffiths, F., Lall, R., Long, J., Petrou, S., Siriwardena, A.N., Slowther, A-M., Betteley, L., Eli, K., Gardiner, G., Huxley, C., Khan, K., Michelet, F., & Perkins, G. D. (2026). Development of a national consensus guideline for termination of resuscitation in the out-of-hospital environment. British Paramedic Journal, 11(1), 56-65
Underwood, J. F., Timothy, K. W., Tyroll, H., Levy, R. J., Dick, I. E., Pitt, G. S., ... & Timothy Syndrome Alliance (TSA) Muir, S. Muir, N. McLaughlin, M., Gardiner, G., Duncan, G., Bresnahan, S. James, A., Miller, G., & Ziegler, C. (2026). Timothy syndrome and CACNA1C-Related Disorder: first international language and management guidelines consensus statement. European Journal of Human Genetics, 1-11.
Gardiner, G., Eli, K., Huxley, C. J., Fothergill, R., Perkins, G. D., Smyth, M. A., ... & Slowther, A. M. (2024). Negotiating grey areas: an interview-based analysis of paramedic uncertainty and decision-making in cardiac arrest events. BMC Emergency Medicine, 24(1), 154.
Huxley, C., Reeves, E., Kearney, J., Gardiner, G., Eli, K., Fothergill, R., ... & Griffiths, F. (2024). Relatives鈥� experiences of unsuccessful out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation attempts: a qualitative analysis. BMC Emergency Medicine, 24(1), 208.
Eli, K., Huxley, C. J., Gardiner, G., Perkins, G. D., Smyth, M. A., Griffiths, F., & Slowther, A. M. (2024). Ethical issues in termination of resuscitation decision-making: an interview study with paramedics and relatives of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest non-survivors. BMJ Open, 14(11), e085132.