Wellbeing Evaluation Reveals Effectiveness of Art Branches Project

The University of Suffolk's Faculty of Arts, Business and Applied Social Science conducted an evaluation of the impact of wellbeing programme interventions for children and young people delivered by a number of organisations across Suffolk, which included Art Branches’ Tree Tales (Suffolk) project.

Of the 288 participants surveyed across all organisations, 24 took part in the Art Branches project. They completed surveys to score their wellbeing before and after the project. Before commencing the project, participants scored around 20% below the general population average score for their age group. After the project completed, participants’ wellbeing scores on the Art Branches project increased by over 40% compared to the start of the project – exceeding the general population average by almost 12% at that point.

For all participating organisations evaluated, an average 15% improvement in wellbeing was measured, showing significantly above-average effectiveness for the Art Branches project.

Commenting on the findings, Art Branches founder and creative director, Stephanie Hartick, said:

“The findings show the real therapeutic value of our relatively unique approach, combining group-based creativity with discovery and education about the environment and heritage. It's reassuring to see that the quantitative evaluation of our work corresponds with the positive feedback we receive from participants about their wellbeing after they’ve taken part in one of activities.”

Read more about the Tree Tales project, here, including feedback from participants and observers.

Notes

Two survey methods were used in the evaluation; the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale and the Stirling Children’s Wellbeing Scale, suitable to cover the age range of the participants.
The average wellbeing scores across both survey methods for the participants in the Art Branches project were: 37.5 before commencing and 52.4 afterwards. The average mean score for the general population at the time of the survey was 47.1.
The average wellbeing scores across both survey methods for participants surveyed across all organisations in the study were: 40.7 before commencing and 46.9 afterwards.

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