When art therapy cares for caregivers: The effects of patients’ artistic productions on the quality of life at work of nursing staff in cancerology[Quand l’art-thérapie soigne les soignants : Les effets des productions artistiques des patients sur la qualité de vie au travail des personnels soignants en cancérologie]

We seek to understand the effects of art therapy, practiced with palliative care patients in oncology, on the quality of worklife of caregivers. We study it from the perspective of the clinic of activity, i.e. the quali- ty of work by studying how art therapy contributes to the organization of the dialogue on the quality of work and to the development of caregivers' pouvoir d'agir (power to act) in a constrained hospital context. We carry an inquiry in a palliative cancer care center, with three modes of data collection (interviews, focus group, and observations). Art therapy forms part of a care system by participa- ting in the transformation of the work environment, of the caregivers-patients relationship, and of the coordi- nated organization of care. It contributes to a dialogical, ethical, and aesthetic movement, making it possible to heal the work of care and the caregivers by developing their pouvoir d'agir.