GPCC Theatre PhD student examines roles in theatre and person-centred health care
“Acting and directing strategies as practical approaches in person-centred health care” is the title of experienced Director and Actor Victoria Brattström’s novel PhD project. The aim of the study is to investigate how knowledge and methods in acting and directing can be used to contribute to the development of methods and practical approaches in person-centred health and care practices.
At her 25% seminar Victoria invited a large audience of theatre and health care students and academics to explore her multi-media “playing field”, which included live acting performances, film, sound and installations of the theory behind person-centred care and the theory of acting and directing.
In the study, different theatre acting and directing methods are investigated and applied with the aim of supporting the establishment of a partnership-relation in the encounter between patient and professional care-provider, within in a practical healthcare context.
The study is funded by GPCC, The University of Gothenburg Centre for Person-centred Care, which is a multidisciplinary research centre. Person-centred care sees the patient as a capable person with resources and abilities, as well as needs, and the concept encompasses all forms of health care, rehabilitation and care.
During the seminar Victoria explained that she is examining the roles in theatre and health care. She has, amongst other things, recorded person-centred encounters between care givers and patients in health care, and will use actors to interpret these and then re-play them to the care givers and patients. She thus travels back and forth between theatre and person-centred care in a continuous flow.
Opponent Kai Lehikoinen, University Lecturer in performing arts at the Performing Arts Research Centre at the Theatre Academy, the University of the Arts Helsinki explained that this type of research is part of a new but growing field of the arts going into organisations and businesses to research various aspects.