Assessing the efficacy of artistic natural emotional surgery for health risks management

Abstract

Health risk has received global attention over the years following the socio-economic threats it continuously imposes on people’s livelihoods in both developed and developing countries. In Africa and Ghana to be specific, many continue to use Art as a therapy to manage their health risks though, only a little has been documented in terms of its efficacy. Based on interpretivist’s philosophy, this study employed a qualitative research approach with a descriptive design to assess the efficacy of artistic natural emotional surgery for health risks management in Ghana. In addition to obtrusive observation, personal interviews, and focus group discussions were conducted for respondents who were respectively selected through convenience (n=50) and homogenous purposive (n=10) sampling techniques. The study revealed that artistic natural emotional surgery phenomena are efficacious in releasing the stress of people after its assessment. It was, however, discovered that the potency of artistic emotional surgery has not received much attention it needed. The study, therefore, recommends that the emotional surgery inventor (R. G. Thompson) should collaborate with artists, art therapists, the Ministry of Health, and healthcare professionals to integrate artistic natural emotional surgery into existing treatment plans for various restorations, and accordingly, sensitise the general public about the potential benefits of artistic natural emotional surgery.