Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
The joy of art-based reflection: building shared academic wellbeing literacy through collage. |
| Authors: |
James, Rikki1 (AUTHOR) rikki.james@ecu.edu.au, Gray, Christina C.1 (AUTHOR), Goopy, Jason1 (AUTHOR), Clayden, Delyse1 (AUTHOR), Meng, Han1 (AUTHOR), Lemon, Narelle1 (AUTHOR), Tytler, Cassandra2 (AUTHOR), Sanbrook, Carli1 (AUTHOR), Ghosh, Manonita3 (AUTHOR), Brooks, Melanie1 (AUTHOR), Selkrig, Mark4 (AUTHOR) |
| Source: |
Reflective Practice. Aug2026, Vol. 27 Issue 4, p490-506. 17p. |
| Subject Terms: |
*Criticism, *Qualitative research, *College teachers, *Professional employee training, *Interpersonal relations, *Experiential learning, *Employees' workload, *COVID-19 pandemic, Work, Life, Art, Health status indicators, Labor productivity, Positive psychology, Psychological well-being, Reflection (Philosophy), Loneliness, Descriptive statistics, Thematic analysis, Cognition disorders, Social support, Perfectionism (Personality trait) |
| Geographic Terms: |
Australia |
| Abstract: |
This paper explores how academics individually and collectively reflect on their wellbeing using arts-based approaches to support wellbeing literacy development in professional contexts. Eleven academics from an Australian university engaged in a two-day off-campus retreat using collage as an arts-based inquiry method. Participants created visual representations of their past, present, and future academic experiences, followed by reflective dialogue. Data were analysed using thematic inductive analysis. Three key themes emerged: arts-based approaches facilitated deep reflection through metaphorical thinking; academics' wellbeing trajectories revealed evolution from past confusion toward more intentional futures; and collective reflection fostered shared wellbeing literacy development. The process illuminated multiple PERMAH dimensions, particularly relationships, meaning, and health. This study demonstrates how arts-based reflection functions simultaneously as professional development and wellbeing practice, developing critical wellbeing literacy that can help embed wellbeing as a core component of academic practice rather than an optional add-on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: |
Education Research Complete |
