Fostering Social Connection: An Arts-Based Inquiry with Graduate Students

Abstract

Background: High rates of social disconnection are a growing global health concern. Graduate students experience high levels of social isolation and associated health issues that impact their academic success and well-being. International graduate students, in particular, face more barriers to positive socialization. Increasingly, there is convincing evidence that arts-based practices can improve health equity through tackling certain social determinants of health, such as social connection. Despite the promise of arts-based practices and the World Health Organization's call for cross-sector collaboration, they have remained on the periphery of research and practice on the "bold actions" required to tackle social isolation and loneliness. Furthermore, in the context of graduate students' challenges with social connection, the role of community arts has largely gone unexamined.

Objectives: The overarching aim of my thesis research is to explore the ways in which arts-based practices can help to both enhance and understand social connection in groups experiencing social isolation, such as graduate students. The specific objectives are to (a) understand the relationship between community arts engagement and health equity using social capital theories; (b) explore the experiences of graduate students who participated in an occupation-based, peer-led community art group called "Art and Play" as it relates to social connection; and (c) explore the ways in which international graduate students perceive, experience, and navigate institutional relationships in the context of a Canadian higher education setting.

Methods: To address each objective, I conducted three individual studies. In the first study, I conducted a theoretical synthesis using social capital theories to explore the relationship between community arts and health equity. In the second study, I used a qualitative and arts-based methodology, involving individual qualitative interviews, group collage and group discussion with 15 graduate students who engaged in the Art and Play program. In the final study, I also used a qualitative, arts-based approach, employing individual collage and poetry, group discussions, and individual qualitative interviews with photo elicitation (of participant-generated artwork), with 7 international graduate students.

Results: The findings of the theoretical synthesis demonstrate that community arts can provide opportunities for accessing the benefits held in social relationships and networks (social capital), which impact health and health equity through individual (social support, social participation, information and material access) and collective pathways (collective action for change, diffusion of healthy norms, creation of healthy and caring environments). Importantly, the findings also highlight that equitable access to the resources generated by community arts is critical for advancing health equity.

In my second study, four themes were developed. The first theme, beyond solitude, captures the social isolation and feelings of loneliness students experience in their studies and how Art and Play provided opportunities for meaningful social engagement, especially for international graduate students. The second theme, bridging the gap, illuminates the development of social relationships between students with diverse backgrounds and experiences through art-making. The third theme, belonging and connection, captures participants' developing sense of belonging to the graduate student spaces, services, and community. The fourth theme, cultivating a community, illustrates the motivation participants described for building a supportive community of graduate students.

In my third study, three themes were developed. The first theme, rulers of the realm, captures the significant and overlapping power exerted by supervisors, professors, and the Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) department in the lives of international graduate students. The second theme, are the Gods on your side?, illustrates the diverse and unpredictable relationships between students and their supervisors and professors in terms of support and sharing of resources and knowledge. The third and final theme, winning the game, captures the considerable effort and stress involved in international students' experience of navigating institutional relationships for success in graduate studies.

Conclusions: The findings from my theoretical synthesis help demonstrate the link between community arts and health equity by highlighting their potential to provide access to social connections and their benefits.

The findings of my second study support community arts as an important tool for enhancing social connection and belonging among graduate students, including international graduate students, in higher education.

The findings from my third study position higher education as a site of interconnected institutional powers that shape international graduate students' experiences. They illuminate the barriers to positive socialization experienced by international graduate students and the social and emotional labour they undertake to navigate institutional relationships for success.

Together, my studies contribute to building knowledge about the value of community arts in fostering social relationships and networks among groups experiencing isolation, including graduate students. They also make visible the particular experience of Canadian international graduate students, revealing important obstacles to socialization and the powerful role of institutional agents in shaping their experiences. Overall, my research helps demonstrate how arts-based practices can support health equity by enhancing social connection among groups experiencing social isolation and by understanding its drivers, and has important implications for the fields of health, higher education and rehabilitation sciences.

Future research exploring diverse, non-dominant cultural meanings and practices in community arts is warranted, as is consideration of critical and non-Western perspectives on social isolation and loneliness. Further research is also needed to explore the potential of arts-based research, including group collage, to support understanding of the sociopolitical drivers of health and social inequities across different social groups. Finally, future studies may wish to focus on other subgroups of graduate students at high risk of social isolation (e.g., racialized students, students with disabilities, or students in caregiving roles) to better understand how to support social connection through creating opportunities for meaningful social and artistic engagement. Additional research is warranted on how supervisors and faculty members can best support their diverse students in successfully navigating the hidden curriculum of graduate studies and promote their inclusion in academic settings.