Data_Sheet_1_The Role of Artistic Creative Activities in Navigating the COVID-19 Pandemic in Australia.pdf

During the COVID-19 pandemic some Australians turned to artistic creative activities (ACAs) as a way of managing their own mental health and well-being. This study examined the role of ACAs in regulating emotion and supporting mental health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic, and also attempted to identify at-risk populations. We proposed that (1) participants would use ACAs as avoidance-based emotion regulation strategies; and (2) music engagement would be used for emotion regulation. Australian participants (N = 653) recruited from the general public completed an online survey, which included scales targeting anxiety (GAD7 scale), depression (PHQ9 scale) and loneliness (two UCLA Loneliness Scales, referring to “Before” and “Since” COVID-19). Participants reported which ACAs they had undertaken and ceased during the pandemic using an established list and ranked their undertaken ACAs in terms of effectiveness at making them “feel better.” For their top-ranked ACA, participants then completed the Emotion Regulation Scale for Artistic Creative Activities (ERS-ACA), and if participants had undertaken any musical ACAs, also the Musical Engagement Questionnaire (MusEQ). The results supported both hypotheses. ANOVAs indicated that participants ranked significantly higher on the “avoidance” ERS-ACA subscale than the other subscales, and that participants ranked significantly higher on the emotion regulation and musical preference MusEQ subscales than the other subscales. Additionally, while ACAs such as “Watching films or TV shows” and “Cookery or baking” were common, they ranked poorly as effective methods of emotion regulation, whereas “Listening to music” was the second-most frequently undertaken ACA and also the most effective. “Singing” and “Dancing” were among the most ceased ACAs but also ranked among the most effective for emotion regulation, suggesting that support for developing pandemic-safe approaches to these ACAs may provide well-being benefits in future crises. Additionally, correlation analyses showed that younger participants, those who took less exercise during the pandemic, and those with the highest musical engagement reported the poorest well-being. We conclude that ACAs provided an important resource for supporting mental health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia and could potentially support mental health and well-being in future crises.

在COVID-19疫情爆发期间，部分澳大利亚人将艺术创意活动（ACAs）作为一种调节自身心理健康与福祉的手段。本研究旨在探讨ACAs在调节情绪、支持心理健康与福祉以及识别高危人群方面的作用。本研究提出，参与者将利用ACAs作为基于回避的情绪调节策略；并且，音乐参与将被用于情绪调节。来自公众的653名澳大利亚参与者完成了在线调查，调查内容包括针对焦虑（GAD7量表）、抑郁（PHQ9量表）和孤独（两份加州大学洛杉矶分校孤独量表，分别指“疫情之前”和“疫情之后”）的量表。参与者通过既定清单报告了他们在疫情期间所采取和停止的ACAs，并按照使自身“感觉更好”的有效性对所采取的ACAs进行排名。对于排名最高的ACAs，参与者完成了艺术创意活动情绪调节量表（ERS-ACA），如果参与者参与了任何音乐ACAs，也完成了音乐参与问卷（MusEQ）。研究结果支持了这两项假设。方差分析显示，参与者在“回避”ERS-ACA子量表上的得分显著高于其他子量表，且在情绪调节和音乐偏好MusEQ子量表上的得分也显著高于其他子量表。此外，尽管“观看电影或电视节目”和“烹饪或烘焙”等活动较为常见，但它们在情绪调节方面的效果不佳，而“聆听音乐”是第二常见且最有效的ACAs。而“唱歌”和“跳舞”是参与者停止最多的ACAs之一，但在情绪调节方面也排名较高，这表明支持开发疫情期间安全的这些ACAs的方法可能为未来的危机提供福祉益处。此外，相关性分析显示，年轻参与者、疫情期间锻炼较少的参与者以及音乐参与度最高的参与者报告的福祉状况最差。我们得出结论，ACAs为支持澳大利亚在COVID-19疫情期间的心理健康与福祉提供了重要的资源，并可能在未来的危机中支持心理健康与福祉。