Background: Quality in healthcare has many potential meanings and interpretations. The case has been made for\nconceptualisations of quality that place more emphasis on describing quality and less on measuring it through\nstructured, vertically oriented metrics. Through discussion of an interdisciplinary community arts project we explore\nand challenge the dominant reductionist meanings of quality in healthcare.\nDiscussion: The model for structured participatory arts workshops such as ours is ââ?¬Ë?art as conversationââ?¬â?¢. In creating\ntextile art works, women involved in the sewing workshops engaged at a personal level, developing confidence\nthrough sharing ideas, experiences and humour. Group discussions built on the self-assurance gained from doing\ncraft work together and talking in a relaxed way with a common purpose, exploring the health themes which were\nthe focus of the art. For example, working on a textile about vitamin D created a framework which stimulated the\nemergence of a common discourse about different cultural practices around ââ?¬Ë?going out in the sunââ?¬â?¢. These conversations\nhave value as ââ?¬Ë?bridging workââ?¬â?¢, between the culture of medicine, with its current emphasis on lifestyle change to prevent\nillness, and patientsââ?¬â?¢ life worlds. Such bridges allow for innovation and flexibility to reflect local public health needs and\ncommunity concerns. They also enable us to view care from a horizontally oriented perspective, so that the interface in\nwhich social worlds and the biomedical model meet and interpenetrate is made visible.\nSummary: Through this interdisciplinary art project involving academics, health professionals and the local community\nwe have become more sensitised to conceptualising one aspect of health care quality as ensuring a ââ?¬Ë?space for the\nstoryââ?¬â?¢ in health care encounters. This space gives precedence to the patient narratives, but acknowledges the\nimportance of enabling clinicians to have time to share stories about care.
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