Evaluation of a Pilot Radical Care Kit: Report for Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation by Monash Arts Creativity Education Faculty Research and Scholarship Group, Faculty of Education, Monash University

This report provides an evidence-based evaluation of the delivery of the Radical Care Kit pilot developed and implemented by the Art Program at Sydney Children’s Hospital at Randwick and The Children’s Hospital at Westmead. This resource must be utilised with Artist Educators, as the value of their tailored and flexible approach is crucial when working in such a sensitive and important space.

Over the period of eight weeks from September to November 2023, four Artist Educators at Sydney Children's Hospitals Foundation Art Program worked primarily bedside with a range of patients at two paediatric hospital sites: Randwick and Westmead. Throughout the pre-pilot, during the pilot itself and at the culmination of the pilot the Artist Educators were interviewed by members of a team of research academics from the Arts Creativity Education Research Group (ACE) from the Faculty of Education at Monash University. Each interaction and interview were conducted using a SWOT matrix: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to capture teaching artists experiences and observations of the pilot program. In addition, participants/teaching artists completed weekly reflections online in response to a 5-minute read on an emergent topic relevant to their work with patients through the pilot program.

This evaluative research was conducted for the Art Program Lead Lleah Smith and Art Program Manager Timothy Talty, the Artist Educators, and funding providers: Sydney Children's Hospitals Foundation, BIC Corporate Foundation, The Page Family Endowment, and Desmond Prentice Charitable Fund via the Perpetual 2023 Impact Philanthropy Grants. It is intended that this report be used for future planning and development of the Radical Care Kit and its potential benefit to facilitate the work of the Arts Program in the hospitals. It is our belief that the Radical Care Kit should be expanded in accordance with the recommendations provided.

The report is structured in the following way: Section 1 outlines the impetus for the pilot and is supported with insights from previous research and scholarly literature. Section 2 describes the research design, including a brief overview of the design and participants – artists, Artist Educators and researchers involved in the evaluation of the pilot Radical Care Kit. Section 3 describes the Artist Educators’ perceptions and experiences throughout the pilot. Section 4 is an analysis of interview data, evaluating the impact of the pilot and highlighting strengths and areas for further considerations as Sydney Children's Hospitals Foundation Art Program management contemplate the future of the Radical Care Kit across sites and the expansion of the Kit. Section 5 contains the recommendations are made for how the pilot might be expanded and enhanced.

The key recommendations are:

· Artist Educators are key to the success of the Radical Care Kit. Recognising the central role of educators in Kit delivery is crucial, requiring training and providing multi-entry points for activities. The Kit is deemed most effective when facilitated by Artist Educators.

· Artist Educators require additional preparation time and discussions with Kit artists.

· The Kit should carefully balance artist-led and child-led possibilities and provide opportunities for differentiation, considering varied student capabilities.

· Instructions in the Kit should be visually oriented, incorporating technology-based methods for patient and educator ease.

· Ongoing contributions from Artist Educators should be encouraged, and the Kit should intentionally involve patient-partners to share experiences.

· Exercise commissioning should consider age, context, patient conditions, and language, ensuring thoughtful categorisation.

We are grateful for the opportunity to conduct this valuable research and extend our thanks to the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation for their trust. It was a pleasure to collaborate with a dedicated and professional team of esteemed arts practitioners.