Museum Prescription by a Physician for a Visit to the MBAM

Museum Prescription by a Physician for a Visit to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts: Assessment of Effects.

In recent years, museums have participated in the patient care journey by using art to enhance their quality of life and well-being. Since 2015, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) and Dr. Beauchet have developed an Action-Research program exploring the effects of participatory art activities for community elders conducted at the MMFA, known as the Arts & Longevity Lab (ALL). The mandate of ALL is to improve the well-being, quality of life and health (i.e. mental and physical state) of individuals and patients through the practice of visual arts activities (i.e. arts that produce objects perceived by the eyes).

Since 2019, the MMFA has developed in collaboration with Médecins Francophones du Canada museum visits prescribed by a primary care physician as a new intervention. Today, it is necessary to improve the knowledge on the effects of this museum visit prescription

The overall objective of this study is to examine the effects of a visit to the MMFA prescribed by a primary care physician on the mental health (well-being and quality of life) of patients living in Montreal.

Inclusion Criteria:

• age 18 and over
• having Internet access at home with an electronic device (computer, keyboard, or smartphone)
• having no dementia
• speaking English or French
• committing to visiting the museum within 3 months of the prescription.

Exclusion Criteria:

• individuals participating in a clinical trial at the same time, to avoid interference with the results of the intervention being studied in this protocol
• individuals with dementia. There are no tests for dementia. The physicians involved in the pre-recruitment process are aware of the cognitive status of their patients. Therefore, they will be able to avoid offering the study to a patient with dementia if such a diagnosis appears in the medical file.