Final Thesis

Presentation
with your faves
Annabelle and Jonathan
Students’ Emotional Wellbeing within Art Museum Experiences

What is a museum’s role in

an attendee’s wellbeing?
▫ Are museum experiences
responsive to attendee’s
emotional wellbeing?
▫ What areas of the museum
experience can art museums
improve to support wellbeing?
 2 Studies, 1 Research
Erin Cotton (Jonathan)
▫ Examine role of art museums
in high school teens’
emotional wellbeing.
▫ Assessed teens in teen art
councils around Seattle.
▫ Interviewed 13 teenagers.
▫ UCL Wellbeing Measures
used in data collection.
Jessica Conway (Annabelle)
▫ Examine role of art museums
in college students’
emotional wellbeing.
▫ Assessed UW undergrads
visiting Henry Art and Frye.
▫ Interviewed 24 students.
▫ Semi-structured interviews
collected qualitative data.
 Final Results

Emotional wellbeing in teens and undergraduates were

positively impacted by art museum experience.
Participants attributed this feeling to the following:
▫ Escaped school and outside stressors.
▫ Developed their personal interests.
▫ Enhanced their feelings of inclusion in building community.
▫ Shared their ideas with each other.
 Finals Results Relevant Undergraduates
▫ All undergraduate participants reported positive feelings while
visiting the art museum (except for one student’s experience)
▫ Students enjoyed connecting the museum content to their own
experiences in school and life
▫ Students reported high levels of interest, enjoyment, and
confidence in the museum
▫ Key words from time spent at the museum:
“Positive headspace” “Break from school” “Calming”
“Confusing” “Covid precautions” “Funny”
 Final Results Relevant Teens

Experiences feelings of positive emotional wellbeing at

least very often to all of the time while in teen art council.
▫ Comfort, safety, confidence (felt most frequently).
⬝ Welcoming, supportive, and non-judgemental space.
⬝ Checking-in and icebreakers, setting discussion guidelines, and sharing ideas.
⬝ Ability and accomplishment, sharing, and gradually building over time.
▫ Happy, engaged, and interested.
▫ Feeling healthy and enjoying the company of others
⬝ Place to escape from all the school stressors.
⬝ In-person experiences and challenges brought on by virtual environment.
 Implications of Study

Positive role of art museums in emotional wellbeing.

Six themes that emerged:
▫ Escaping school and other outside stressors.
▫ Personal interest.
▫ Inclusion and social justice.
▫ Impacts of COVID-19
▫ Sharing ideas and collaborating.
▫ Feelings of comfort in building community.
 Next Steps

Museum professionals and educators can further support

students’ emotional wellbeing by:
▫ Designing wellbeing programs that encourage continued
participation and allow participants to connect with each other.
▫ Consistent weekly meetings to connect and build friendships.
▫ Self-select tasks or projects to build skills in area of interest.
▫ Viewing exhibits relevant to academic courses.
▫ Inclusion and diversity in museum programming.
 Our Learning
▫ We got a real inside look into how
qualitative and quantitative research
is conducted
▫ Watching the qualitative
information go into the paper was a
new experience, coming from
reading mostly quantitative
research
 Our Contributions
▫ At the start of our work with Jessica and Erin, we
suggested they include demographic information about
participants, which they then included in their final paper.
▫ We aided with recruitment by reaching out to our social
media followings
▫ We did other miscellaneous work that included making
instagram posts, making recruitment flyers, data analysis,
transcribing, and looking over transcripts for important
information
Thank you!