This book explores applied theatre practice for children in environments of illness and cure and how it can powerfully normalise children’s hospitalisation experience. It is an essential tool for making meaning of children’s illness, putting it into a fictional context and developing better control of their clinical experiences. It can be central to raising the standards of care and quality of life during illness. Taken from the author’s research and participatory bedside theatre practice in hospitals before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, this book demonstrates new learning about aesthetics, ethics, emotions, stories, puppetry, digital arts and research methodologies about children’s health and wellbeing. It provides a selection of ten unique stories told by children inspired by applied theatre practice in paediatrics, cardiac, oncology, neurosurgery, burns units and complex and intensive care wards. Stories aid in understanding the language of children’s pain for a better assessment and management of pain by healthcare professionals through the arts. It analyses synergistic theatre performance in 'stitched lands' between challenging realities and safe fictionalities. This book enables artists to develop new ways of thinking and contributes to further improvements in the provision of education and reflective learning in the field. It also addresses the emotional labour of the artist in healthcare and makes recommendations for balanced training to prevent emotional exhaustion. Designed for artists, healthcare professionals, therapists, play specialists and teachers who work with children in healthcare, this text aims to help many people find creative ways of making a positive difference in sick children’s lives. It is a book for those who love and care for children.

Theatre presents readers with an introduction to the role theatre plays in human health and wellbeing. It presents an overview of scientific evidence, case studies on how theatre can be employed in different settings, practical advice for bringing the benefits of theatre into health and social, public health campaigns, and the family home.

Costume is an active agent for performance-making; it is a material object that embodies ideas shaped through collaborative creative work. A new focus in recent years on research in the area of costume has connected this practice in vital and new ways with theories of the body and embodiment, design practices, artistic and other forms of collaboration. Costume, like fashion and dress, is now viewed as an area of dynamic social significance and not simply as passive reflector of a pre-conceived social state or practice. This book offers new approaches to the study of costume, as well as fresh insights into the better-understood frames of historical, theoretical, practice-based and archival research into costume for performance. This anthology draws on the experience of a global group of established researchers as well as emerging voices. Below is a list of just some of the things it achieves: 1. Introduces diverse perspectives, innovative new research methods and approaches for researching design and the costumed body in performance. 2. Contributes towards a new understanding of how costume actually 'performs' in time and space. 3. Offers new insights into existing practices, as well as creating a space of connection between practitioners and researchers from design, the humanities and social sciences.

Recent decades have seen a new appreciation develop for applied theater and the role of arts-based activities in health care. This book looks specifically at the place of theater for children who are hospitalized, showing how powerfully it can enhance their social and mental well-being. Child-led performances, for example, can be used as a technique to distract young patients from hospitalization, prepare them for painful procedures, and teach them calming techniques to control their own pre- or post-operative stress. Persephone Sextou details the key theoretical contexts and practical features of theater for children, in the process offering motivation, guidance, and inspiration for practitioners who want to incorporate performance into their treatment regimen.

"This book answers 'why not' and 'how to' for health care accreditation bodies, quality experts, and frontline professionals, moving the reader from timely information, to inspiration, and through patient-centered action with practical tools and potent case studies." Paul vanOstenberg, DDS, MS, vice president, Accreditation and Standards, Joint Commission International "This superb guide from Planetree illustrates that providing high-quality, high-value, patient-centered health care is not a theoretical ideal. The case studies make clear that these goals are attainable; they are being achieved by leading health care organizations worldwide, and there is a clear road map for getting there right here in this book." Susan Dentzer, senior policy adviser to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation "At IHI, we follow the principle, 'all teach, all learn' the idea that everyone, everywhere has something to teach, and something to learn. This remarkable and indispensable guide is as pure an example of this principle as I've come across." Maureen Bisognano, president and chief executive officer, Institute for Healthcare Improvement "The International Society for Quality in Health Care's mission is to inspire, promote, and support continuous improvement in the quality and safety of health care worldwide. It is in this spirit that we welcome this new book on patient-centered care. As in their previous work, the authors demonstrate just how critical it is to develop an organizational culture that puts patients first." Peter Carter, chief executive officer, International Society for Quality in Health Care

The Advocate is a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) monthly newsmagazine. Established in 1967, it is the oldest continuing LGBT publication in the United States.