Immersive Arts and
Creative Health
Exploring the possibilities of applying immersive arts within health
With the next round of Immersive Arts funding set to open between July and September (see: immersivearts.uk), now is the perfect time to explore how immersive technologies can strengthen the field of creative health. From sensory environments to virtual reality interventions, immersive arts are already enhancing care, supporting recovery, and shaping more compassionate health systems.
Background
Immersive Arts is a UK-wide programme supporting creative practitioners working with technologies like VR, AR, spatial audio, motion capture and beyond. The programme is administered in partnership with the University of the West of England (UWE), where dedicated researchers monitor infrastructure and ecosystem, immersive tools and technologies, and artist and audience development (see here for more information). They are one of many funding and delivery partners on the programme. The programme builds on years of research – from UWE and beyond – on how immersive experiences can transform perception, emotion, and connection.
While the examples below weren’t funded through Immersive Arts, they reflect the programme’s ethos and show the growing synergy between immersive innovation and creative health.
Environments for Healing
Immersive technologies have the potential to reimagine clinical environments. One such application might be ‘Snoezelen’ rooms in hospitals. These offer multisensory immersion for patients with complex needs, reducing agitation, anxiety and improving relaxation. They have positively benefitted patients with dementia, autism, brain injury, complex continuing care and palliative needs (1–3). Interactive walls and projection mapping can promote calm, positive stimulation, physical health by responding to patient movement (4,5). These have been used in contexts such as waiting rooms in children’s hospitals (6–8). Moreover, soothing light installations and ‘sensory rooms’ have also been used in maternity and postnatal wards to support mothers with pain, anxiety and post-natal depression, nurturing their recovery (9–11).
Pain Management
Virtual reality is now being used to support pain control during severe burns treatment (12,13), labour (14–16), and cancer care (17–20). These experiences often use meditative environments or distraction techniques, proving especially helpful where pharmacological interventions fall short. The degree of pain reduction that is possible is significant - for example, ‘burn patients report 35–50% reductions in procedural pain while in a distracting immersive virtual reality, and fMRI brain scans show associated reductions in pain-related brain activity during VR’ (21).
Regulation
Immersive arts are being deployed to support different types of regulation. SpiroArtis, an art-based interactive health platform for children with asthma and cystic fibrosis, seeks to enhance engagement and motivation in spirometry testing (a common lung function test) (22). This builds upon a number of digital health interventions supporting paediatric asthma, through mechanisms such as animation, gamification, relaxation visualisations, and AR apps (23–26).
In a biofeedback VR study, where participants needed to control their heart-rate to play a game, researchers found that visualisation of biofeedback increases sense of agency and heart rate control (27). Similarly, Heartsync is an interactive generative soundscape installation visualises group heartrate for means of synchronisation (28,29). Other biofeedback interventions support health concerns such as hypertension (30–32).
Projects also support emotional regulation for neurodivergent people. Examples include immersive technology at the D.R.E.A.M. centre in Sussex; ‘this multipurpose space integrates immersive projection, spatial audio, scent delivery, and tactile interactivity into flexible storytelling zones’ (33). In Scotland, Soundplay offer immersive, multisensory experiences of their own (34). Co-founder Ewan Sinclair comments, ‘a multi-sensory approach just opens-up more possibilities and starting points’.
Rehabilitation
In rehabilitation settings, immersive technology plays a growing role (35). Virtual embodiment therapy has helped amputees reduce phantom limb pain (36–39). Movement-based VR games aid stroke recovery (40–42). Adding to this, VR experiences allowing people with dementia to ‘travel through time,’ stimulating memory recall and identity (43,44). In a wider sense, digital museums and interactive arts are thought to contribute to repair via heightened play behaviours, signalling scope for more rehabilitation possibilities.
Health Promotion and Training
Immersive arts are emerging as powerful tools for health literacy. VR and AR-based experiences have been developed to promote understanding of diabetes (45,46), while immersive dance supports engagement with physical health (47,48). For healthcare workers, simulations help build empathy and insight (49) – such as dementia simulation training (50–53).
Mental Health
The mental health potential of immersive arts is vast. Examples include immersive music therapy (54–57), VR art therapy (58–60), immersive arts to address stigma and awareness of mental conditions (61,62), virtual immersive public art for urban restoration (63), and immersive care home environments to promote cognitive function, enhance well-being and foster connection (64).
Call to Action
If you’re working in creative health and wondering what’s next, immersive arts may be the direction to explore. The field is expanding fast and with funding streams like Immersive Arts now open, there’s no better time to imagine what's possible.
References
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