Prescribed play boosts parents’ mental health

A creative play programme has significantly improved new parents’ and carers’ mental health, according to research by the Universities of Leeds and Huddersfield.

We hope that this trailblazing creative programme can impact communities by being taken up and rolled out by the NHS. The next step is working on training programmes so artists can deliver Play on Prescription – helping us harness the power of creativity to help children have a healthier and fairer future.

– Dr Paige Davis

Impact

• Health impact: symptoms of postnatal depression symptom scores decreased throughout the five-week programme, and continued decreasing when parents attended a second round of the course.

Key information

• Major funders: British Academy Innovation Fellowship, Arts Council England
• Partners and collaborators: Theatre Hullabaloo, University of Huddersfield, Arts Council England
• Disciplines: psychology
• Investigators: Dr Page Davis and Dr Susanna Kola-Palmer.

Keywords: world parents day, parenthood, parent support, prescribed play, social prescribing, social prescription, child health, child wellbeing, parents wellbeing, creativity