Theater of Life – 2017 and 2018 Editions

Context

Many patients do not accept their diseases and the consequences they have on their lives. They therefore refuse to correctly adhere to their treatment, which involves not only real suffering but also more difficulties in their care with significant repercussions in their health. Artistic motivation, such as dramatizations and plays, are thus used more and more often to support patients in accepting their diseases and eventually helping them to enjoy a better quality of life. It enriches therapeutic care.

Project

This project entails organizing artistic workshops that allow patients to dramatize their own experiences and then attend the theatrical performance of this slice of life in order to grasp the issues tied to their diseases and their treatment.
The Theater of Life is a pilot project based on the experience of Professor Jean-Philippe Assal in the importance Art can take on in easing difficult times in life. Assisted by a director, actors, and nursing staff, a patient will first write up a scenario. The actors then dramatize this scenario and perform it in front of the patient. In a large majority of cases, this artistic expression of his or her own experience allows the patient to discover and unveil the meaning contained in his or her life journey. Then there all the space needed for the patient to take in hand a new life with the disease.

Chef de projet

Professor Alain Golay, Division Head Physician, Therapeutic Education for Chronic Diseases Division, Department of Community, Primary Care, and Emergency Medicine, Geneva University Hospitals