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Artwork produced by an interprofessional graduate student research project is on display in the hallways of the until mid-December, 2015. The project, titled "Visual Voices: An Arts-Based Assessment of the Perceived Identity of Aging Maine Residents”, was conducted by Master of Public Health students, Collyn Baeder and Zoe Hull, and Master of Science in Occupational Therapy students, Adrian Jung, Michaela Hoffman, Rebecca Masterjohn, and Virginia Sedarski. 

Using an arts-based research methodology called Visual Voices, which involves art activities and group discussions with participants about a research topic, the team worked with six female residents from the Park Danforth senior living community in Portland. They explored the topics of identity and perception: how the participants perceive themselves in contrast to how they feel perceived by friends and family, and their health care providers. The students were also interested in learning about how differences between these perceptions may impact the participants. 

A primary goal of the project was to raise awareness about older adults' perspectives on these topics among a wide audience, and art is an effective visual communication tool. To that end, the students have endeavored to widely exhibit the participants' artwork that resulted from the project. To date, they've displayed the artwork at the University of New England, the Park Danforth, a venue in downtown Portland for the May 2015 First Friday Art Walk, and now at the New England Rehabilitation Hospital, which will increase health care providers' exposure to the project's outcomes.

The project was funded by an interprofessional student-led mini grant from the Center for Excellence in Interprofessional Education (CEIPE). Rebecca Boulos, M.P.H., Ph.D., assistant clinical professor in the School of Community and Population Health, and Regi Robnett, Ph.D., OTR/L, professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy, served as faculty advisors for the project.