Visual Arts Interventions With Older Adults

A two-arm randomized controlled study will be conducted to obtain within-group ratings of feasibility and acceptability, as well as between-group differences in drawing skills after training. In the drawing intervention, participants will learn and train drawing skills through exercises that target attention, perception, and visuospatial reasoning. In the active control condition, participants will navigate virtual art galleries. Both interventions will be completed remotely and at home. Participants will complete in-lab assessment sessions before and after the training. Each intervention consists of 6 weeks of training for up to 2 hours a week, including up to 1 hour of a self-guided lesson and prompted daily drawing practice adding up to 1 hour in the drawing intervention and 2 1-hour sessions of virtual gallery exploring per week in the arts appreciation intervention. The pre-test is administered within one week of the start of training and the post-test is administered within one week of training completion.