Increasingly, art and design projects are used in dementia care settings to support the well-being of people living with dementia. However, the way well-being is defined and evaluated varies significantly in reporting. This study briefly examines the development of the concept of well-being and how it is intertwined with concepts of health and quality of life. It presents a scoping review of studies that use art and design to support the well-being of people living with dementia. We examined the characteristics and methodologies of the studies, how well-being is understood and operationalized, and how the outcomes are reported. The aim of this study was to understand whether there is any consistency in how well-being and related terminology are understood, the methodologies used, how projects are evaluated, the assessment tools used, and in what outcomes and implications are discussed. Results showed well-being and related terminology are used to reference the social, physical, states of mind and feelings, and in opposition to identified deficits. There was no consistent approach to how arts engagement for well-being in the dementia care space is carried out and evaluated. However, this study suggests that this is not necessarily problematic across arts engagement activities for well-being, providing the use of terminology and approaches, and means of evaluation are consistent and retain integrity within the design of individual projects. It suggests that well-designed projects provide frameworks that are able to take into account the many variables in relation to art and creativity and dementia care, and can offer transferability.
Keywords: art; dementia care; design; evaluation; quality of life; well-being.