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Peer-Reviewed Study Finds Arts Prescriptions Improve Mental Well-Being
Erik Holmgren, Manager of Advancement and Strategic Partnerships
Mass Cultural Council believes that cultural participation can be part of a stronger cross-sectoral approach to whole-person health. A newly released study concurs.
Frontiers in Public Health has just published a peer reviewed study linking arts-based social prescription – the referral of patients to creative experiences in their communities (think museum visits, dance performances, and ceramics classes) – to improvements in mental health.
The study followed 239 patients and found that the benefits of arts prescriptions peaked after 6-8 doses of arts and culture.
Results indicate that patients showed statistically significant improvements in the World Health Organization’s WHO-5 Well-Being Index, a self-report instrument measuring mental well-being that is used throughout the world.
And according to the 2025 study, while the adherence rate to front line treatments for depression and anxiety (e.g. SSRI medications such as Prozac and others) was 33%, adherence rates to arts prescriptions were approximately 76%.
People utilized arts prescription as prescribed by professional care providers at a rate more than double that of traditional medications.
This study was led by SocialRx, the organization Mass Cultural Council partnered with in 2023 to launch the first statewide social prescribing solution in the U.S.
Our Agency sees the cultural sector as one of the largest non-clinical behavioral health workforces in the Commonwealth, and this peer-reviewed publication provides independently validated evidence supporting that perspective.