2015 Grant Awards

The posters and papers listed below each grant arise from work facilitated through the grant funding.

Understanding the Effects of Creating and Viewing Art and Digital Stories with Pediatric Rheumatology Patients, Healthcare Teams and in Educating the Community

Principal Investigator: Miettunen, P (PDF)
Co-investigators: Laing. C; Benseler. S; Rusted, B; Luca, N; Taiani, J; Lang, M; Jamniczky, H; Schmeling, H; Gerschman, T; Johnson, N

Project Summary

The post-project feedback from the children has been uniformly positive. The Art workshops have been so well received that they have now become a permanent part of JIA care at our institute. The individual digital stories are being used to teach other patients, health care staff, students and general public about “what does it feel to have arthritis” (patients’ words). We are currently creating a new project in which we plan to use the stories made by teenagers to facilitate transition to adult care. We are also using the digital stories with any new health care team member to help them better understand the impact of JIA on children’s lives. We are also planning a new movie night to showcase the children’s movies to all new patients with JIA diagnosis.

Oral Presentation

  1. Giving Children a Voice Through Art: To Understand and Educate About the Impact of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis by Creating Art and Telling Digital Stories. Paivi Miettunen, Michael Lang, Anastasia Dropol, Catherine Laing, Susanne Benseler, Tommy Gerschman, Nadia Luca, Heinrike Schmeling, Nicole Johnson, Jaymi Taiani, Brian Rusted. International Conference on Narratives in Health and Illness, Tenerife, Spain, November 11-12, 2016.
  2. Giving Children a Voice Through Art: Creative Expression Through Art and Digital Story Telling to Understand and Educate About the Impact of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. Paivi Miettunen, Canadian Rheumatology Association Annual Scientific Meeting, February 27-March 2, 2019.

Poster Presentations

Presented at the 2016 Pediatric Rheumatology European Society Annual Meeting

Presented at the 2018 Canadian Rheumatology Association meeting.