Social Work and the Integration of Sciences and Arts for Historical Healing

Health inequities wound people and their institutions across generations. For addressing the cumulative effects of this historical problem, an alliance between sciences and arts is one of many requirements. Importantly, given its virtues of theoretical synthesis and action, the social work field can promote collaboration within the academy and partnership with communities beyond. This workshop will expand on the value of integration by focusing on the evolution of the "biosocial turn," the increasing trends among researchers and artists to fuse the biomedical and social sciences in the last five decades. What is social work's contribution to this ongoing debate about biomarkers and the social and spiritual domains of human experience? Participants will appraise this evolution and acquire skills for analogy creation, which may help them integrate sources and methods to challenge the unequal distribution of diseases. The presenters will comprise an interdisciplinary team: a bioethicist and clinical social worker, currently a doctoral student from Mexico who studies imagination types, historical violence, and plasticity through multisensory stimulation; a clinician and doctoral student in social work from Nigeria, who researches infectious diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the securitization of health systems worldwide; and an associate professor and chair of graduate education from the US, who is a pioneer in introducing neuroscience into social work training, specializing in how humor, sleep and positive affect influence health and career outcomes. Their workshop will consist of three interrelated stages: 1) what are the implications of the biosocial turn for research? The introduction will discuss the value of synthesizing theories and including biomarkers in statistical models. Such logic is not merely an act of addition but rather a change in assumptions. The presenters will emphasize the advantages and challenges that the social work field has in unifying paradigms. 2) Given how difficult it is to reverse health inequities, how can researchers enhance and maintain their creativity? This section will introduce specific techniques to improve analogy production, making collaboration and innovation more likely. Notably, the speakers will exemplify how integrating diverse sensory modalities with a "congruent logic" in learning habits can promote the creation of new neurons in the memory center (hippocampus). The audience will acquire this skill set through play, accompanied by story-telling and live music. 3) If past suffering affects the present and the future, increasing collective resiliency can reverse our legacy? The panelists will reflect on healing from a historical perspective, upholding human potential and dignity. In conclusion, this workshop will encourage collaborative solutions for battling disparities rooted in history.