Qualitative and arts-based evidence from children participating in a pilot randomised controlled study of school-based arts therapies
File(s)children-09-00890.pdf (1.41 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Moula, Zoi
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
(1) Background: There is limited evidence on the impact of arts therapies as a tool for prevention of mental health difficulties in childhood. This pilot randomised controlled study aimed to investigate the impact of arts therapies on children’s mental health and wellbeing; the qualitative and arts-based evidence is presented in this article. (2) Methods: Sixty-two children (aged 7-10) with mild emotional and behavioral difficulties were recruited across four primary schools, and were randomly assigned to either: art therapy, music therapy, dance movement therapy, or dramatherapy. All children were interviewed individually after their participation in arts therapies. (3) Results: Children verbally and artistically expressed that they experienced positive changes in their mental health and wellbeing, such as improved self-expression, safety, empowerment, hope and optimism for the future. Arts were particularly important for expressing complex emotions and feelings that cannot be easily verbalised. Recommendations are provided to improve the quality of group arts therapies in future interventions, such as through smaller groups, longer sessions, and strategies to protect the therapeutic environment. (4) Conclusions: This study embraced all arts therapies as one research domain and set children’s verbal and non-verbal responses at the heart of outcome evaluation. This article highlights the importance of incorporating qualitative and arts-based methods to capture changes in children’s mental health wellbeing in future experimental studies.
Date Issued
2022-06-15
Date Acceptance
2022-06-13
Citation
Children, 2022, 9 (6), pp.1-19
ISSN
2227-9067
Publisher
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/9/6/890
Start Page
1
End Page
19
Journal / Book Title
Children
Volume
9
Issue
6
Copyright Statement
Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Identifier
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/9/6/890
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2022-06-15