Part of the seminar series, The Spaces Between: Equity, Voice, Agency and Care Practices Involving the Arts and Arts Therapies Following the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increased interest in exploring the role of online arts activities as a form of mental health support. As young people and individuals with existing mental health conditions have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, the aim of the Dance/Connect study was to explore if and how eight weeks of group online dance classes may support young people (aged 16-24) living with anxiety. The study was mixed-methods (qualitative, quantitative, participatory, arts-based) and was delivered in partnership with a youth advisory of young people aged 16-24. In this presentation, we explore our coproduction processes of collaborating with young people to deliver this research, as well as reflect on and share the arts-based methods we used to explore experiences of dance and coproduction.

150

2/16/2023

90% of autistic adults report that sensory issues cause significant barriers at school and work (Leekam et al., 2007). Wearable technologies (e.g., smart glasses) offer the possibility to monitor environments and adjust user-experiences. This research proposes applying such technologies to reduce anxiety-inducing distractions and create prompts that may increase autistic adults’ attentional-focus and quality-of-life. SensorAble (\ˈsen-sȯr-əbəl—or alt.—\sen-ˈsȯr-əbəl) is a multi-disciplinary MPhil/PhD Research Project. It fulfils a gap in scholarly knowledge regarding the exploration, design, application and testing of purpose-built wearable technologies that employ artificial intelligence for cognitive enhancement for those diagnosed with autism, by increasing their attentional focus and quality of life and through de-emphasizing anxiety-inducing environmental distractions and over-stimulation.

7

9/21/2020