A new report from the National Endowment for the Arts presents growing evidence on how arts-based approaches, particularly music, can help to address the opioid crisis. Of the 69 unique studies examined in Arts-Based Approaches to Countering the Opioid Crisis: New and Expanded Evidence, nearly 80 percent reported positive findings while the remainder showed mixed or neutral results. No studies reported uniformly negative findings.
The new report builds on the Arts Endowment’s Arts Strategies for Addressing the Opioid Crisis: Examining the Evidence. Published in 2020, that earlier publication was the first federal report to examine the state of research and practice for arts-based interventions in pain management and substance misuse prevention, treatment, and recovery.