Supporting Healthcare Professionals Through Covid-19: Understanding How Arts-based Methods Can Support Non-verbal Communication

Effective, clear and compassionate verbal and non-verbal communication has been shown to be essential to good patient care, as well as part of an efficient and cost-effective healthcare system (McDonald, 2016). Since the Covid-19 outbreak, communication between patients and healthcare professionals has altered, with healthcare professionals facing new challenges: adapting to the introduction of widespread use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), video-call consultations, social distancing and limited physical touch. Healthcare professionals have described the impact of wearing PPE as isolating, exhausting and impeding communication, articulating the urgent need for research in this area which has been reiterated by proactive requests for support from institutions such as University College of London Hospitals (UCLH). Through Clod Ensemble's Performing Medicine programme WILLSON (Principal Investigator) provides sector-leading interventions in healthcare education using performative techniques from non-verbal artistic disciplines, such as dance and physical theatre, to enable healthcare professionals to gain a deeper understanding of how they communicate non-verbally. These techniques have been proven to enhance self-care and communication with patients and colleagues (Osman et al., 2018). This proposed research programme of interviews and workshops will investigate the impact of arts-based interventions on the training and support of healthcare professionals and medical students with regard to the non-verbal communication challenges presented by Covid-19. Undertaken by a unique, multidisciplinary partnership between arts organisations, NHS trusts and academics who have been collaborating for decades, this project will create, test, scale and disseminate online and in-person resources to support healthcare professionals and medical students.