International Helath Humanities Network: Humanities Subject Area Reports

This community poetry project focused on the thoughts and behaviours evoked by having and recovering from a stroke, in order to shape positive healing, adjustment and supportive community among stroke survivors and their relatives and carers. After initial planning in 2010, a project team consisting of a St.Leonards-based performance poet and three academic staff from the University of Brighton secured access to several stroke clubs in Sussex in 2011.

This community poetry project focused on the thoughts and behaviours evoked by having and recovering from a stroke, in order to shape positive healing, adjustment and supportive community among stroke survivors and their relatives and carers. After initial planning in 2010, a project team consisting of a St.Leonards-based performance poet and three academic staff from the University of Brighton secured access to several stroke clubs in Sussex in 2011.

Stories of stroke experiences, previous lives and subsequent adaptation to changed circumstances were gathered from stroke survivors and their relatives and volunteer staff. These stories formed the basis for a collection of poems which was subsequently disseminated back to the stroke clubs and their contributing stroke survivors through performances.

The collection was also used in curriculum development and staff induction for nursing and other healthcare staff involved in stroke care, and in training and local strategy development at the University of Brighton. This, together with wider, national and international dissemination and dialogues with individuals and groups in different locations in the United Kingdom, demonstrated the success of the project. The above is described in greater detail below following a discussion of the theoretical basis for the project.

How are your feeling? A community poetry project for stroke survivors in Sussex
Alec Grant, Kate Tym, Debbie Hatfield, Kay Aranda (PDF)

Alec Grant
School of Nursing and Midwifery,
Faculty of Health and Social Science,
University of Brighton.
Email: a.grant@brighton.ac.uk

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