How did female survivors of abuse use the arts to support their mental health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic? A qualitative exploration of their views.

"AM declares that she is a non-salaried trustee board member for a non-profit, community-based women's centre that provides support to women who have experienced domestic abuse. All other authors declare no competing interests."

"AcknowledgmentsThis work was supported by the Wellcome Trust (204841/Z/16/Z, 221400/Z/20/Z, and 205407/Z/16/Z). The COVID-19 Social Study was funded by the Nuffield Foundation [WEL/FR-000022583]; the views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily the Foundation. The study was also supported by the MARCH Mental Health Network funded by the Cross-Disciplinary Mental Health Network Plus initiative supported by UK Research and Innovation (ES/S002588/1). AM's conference attendance was part-funded by Violence, Abuse and Mental Health Network (VAMHN). VAMHN is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and their support is gratefully acknowledged (ES/S004424/1). The funders were not involved in the conduct of this research; they were not involved in the writing of the manuscript or the decision to submit for publication. The University College London Ethics Committee reviewed and provided approvals (14895/005, 19899/001). Authors were not precluded from accessing data in the study and all authors accept responsibility for the publication. Many thanks to VAMHN, Solace Women's Aid, Hillingdon Women's Centre for sharing our study information with their networks during study recruitment. We are grateful to members of our online advisory group who supported the study, including women with lived experience, third-sector professionals, and academic researchers. The authors wish to thank all of the participants who took part in the study."