Title of Work

Compassionate Touch

Authors

Riddhi Daftary, University of New EnglandFollow
Jessfor Baugh, University of New EnglandFollow

Description of Work

Artist Alex Rheault approached the College of Dental Medicine in the fall of 2015 about collaborating for UNE Interprofessional Art Exhibition: Wonder. Rheault’s idea was to create an artwork informed by CDM faculty and students that would explore the fear and anxiety many people associate with dental care. The artist connected with students Jessfor Baugh and Riddhi Daftary. Through meetings emphasizing free-form discussion—with Rheault often drawing as a part of the idea exchange—an interdisciplinary collaboration was born.

Baugh and Daftary identified five stages associated with anxious and fearful dental patients: Listen to Identify, Validation, Everyone has a Story, Not Alone and The Compassionate Touch. These stages had been highlighted previously in their education, but the students chose unique names, for artistic reasons. The stages became the structure for Compassionate Touch, a video directed by Baugh and Daftary with the guidance of David Pier, D.M.D., Michael Truscott, D.M.D. and many other CDM and IPEC colleagues.

In the tradition of Expressionism and Surrealist Automatic Drawing, Rheault and Baugh created drawings, paintings and prints that became the visual core of the video. Daftary (who has an undergraduate degree in psychology) wrote expressively about the five stages and scripted the video. Original music by Baugh and fellow student Chelsea Toussaint, and by Cameron Grover ’13 and Robert Marus, D.D.S., enhanced the visuals and interviews, and Baugh compiled and edited into the form that is presented here.

Daftary explains "the interdisciplinary initiative is to understand and manage the dental needs of high fear patients by incorporating the arts, music, interviews from dental clinicians, and scholarly sources. We want to promote and improve quality, patient-centered approaches for healthcare professionals across disciplines. As dental students who do get access to phenomenal educators and knowledge, we find that it’s our duty to raise awareness and ignite change within ourselves and beyond. This film is therefore dedicated to our well-intentioned educators who impact us with their compassionate touch. We learn from you every day."

This was an interprofessional collaboration between UNE College of Dental Medicine and College of Fine Arts & Sciences. Funding provided by IPEC Student-led Interprofessional Mini-Grant, with support from the UNE Office of Research and Scholarship (Ed Bilsky), Brian K. Dallaire PharmD, and Deborah Dallaire. The creators gratefully acknowledge the aforementioned supporters and the entire team of Compassionate Touch for their contribution and encouragement towards the collaboration.

Erratum

To learn more about the project and download the video, visit: http://dune.une.edu/minigrant_comptouch/

Recommended Citation

Daftary, Riddhi and Baugh, Jessfor (2016) "Compassionate Touch," Akesis: Vol. 2: Iss. 1, Article 2.
Available at: https://dune.une.edu/akesis/vol2/iss1/2

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