• Tasha L Golden, Richard W Ordway, Susan Magsamen, Aanchal Mohanty, Yifan Chen, and T W Cherry Ng.
• International Arts + Mind Lab, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 5801 Smith Ave, Ste #110, Baltimore, MD, 21209, USA. tasha.golden@artsandmindlab.org.
• Bmc Med. 2024 Jan 3; 22 (1): 77.

AbstractThe devastating impact of youth mental health concerns is increasingly evident on a global scale. This crisis calls for innovative solutions that are sufficiently accessible, scalable, and cost-effective to support diverse communities around the world. One such solution involves engagement in the arts: incorporating and building upon existing local resources and cultural practices to bolster youth mental health. In this article, we describe the global youth mental health crisis and note major gaps in the knowledge and resources needed to address it. We then discuss the potential for arts- and culture-based strategies to help meet this challenge, review the mounting evidence regarding art's ability to support mental health, and call for action to undertake critical research and its translation into accessible community practices. Four steps are suggested: (1) elevate and prioritize youth voice, (2) develop core outcome measures, (3) identify and analyze successful models around the globe, and (4) generate clear funding pathways for research and translational efforts. Worldwide implementation of arts- and culture-based strategies to address youth mental health will provide critical resources to support the health, wellbeing and flourishing of countless youth across the globe.© 2023. The Author(s).

8 keywords...

hide…