science & technology: sep/oct 2026
Updated: 3 days ago
Developing roadmaps for advancing practice, research, and policy in the arts and health
In our “Around the Town” section, we featured a photo of three Wellcoaches who presented at the recent Health and Wellbeing Coaching Conference on the value of integrating the arts into health and well-being coaching. A recent, and perfectly-timed, article supports the idea.
A Lancet Review by Fancourt and colleagues argues that arts engagement should be treated as a health behavior just as physical activity, diet, and sleep, and it maps out how to build that idea into health systems worldwide. That framing puts the arts squarely within a health coach's scope. The authors call for public-health guidance on arts engagement and note how low baseline engagement is in some countries: only about one in 20 US adults actively engages in the arts on a given day. They describe the barriers as multilevel, spanning individual capability and attitudes, local opportunity, and structural factors like funding and access. That maps closely onto how coaches already think about behavior change. Engagement needs to be culturally-grounded and build on practices people already have, such as singing in worship, crafts, and storytelling, rather than importing one model of what "the arts" should look like.
The paper emphasizes person-centered public-health pathways, especially social prescribing. The authors describe it as strengths-based, asset-based, and goal-directed. Individuals name what they want to address (loneliness, mood, activity, wellbeing) and then choose activities that fit their identity and values. The Review calls for building competencies across clinicians, artists, arts therapists, and community organizers, and it notes that arts engagement can also reduce burnout among health professionals. Coaches can help connect clients to community arts and support them in sustaining engagement.
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