Arts-informed research dissemination: Patients' perioperative experiences of open-heart surgery

Abstract Background The integration of humanistic approaches, in which patients' personal experiences are acknowledged and inform practice, is integral to optimal healthcare. Objectives In this study, we used an arts-informed narrative approach to understand and highlight the experiential and subjective qualities of illness and recovery from heart surgery. Methods An arts-informed analysis was conducted and we represented participants' stories of open-heart surgery through the media of poetry and photographic images. Results By using the arts as a method for analysis and dissemination, patients' unique and deeply personal experiences of heart surgery were illuminated. Conclusions The arts can be particularly beneficial in healthcare and cardiovascular research, because they can inspire practitioners to become refamiliarized with the emotional, embodied, and psychosocial perioperative experiences of heart surgery from patients' perspectives.