This article presents the preliminary results of an outcome study comparing the effectiveness of art therapy and music therapy in a large pediatric medical facility. Measures of pain and mood were taken before and after sessions over two and a half years and across six therapists. The findings suggest that mood improved more effectively after art therapy than after music therapy. Although no significant difference was found in pain measured between modalities, the data indicate that music therapy might be more easily tolerated when patients are experiencing moderate or high levels of pain, as considerably fewer art therapy sessions were completed with patients reporting severe pain. A case illustration and the discussion of findings suggest possible clinical applications for maximizing the impact of expressive treatments in medical settings. R ESUM E Cet article pr esente les conclusions pr eliminaires d'une etude des r esultats comparant l'efficacit e de l'art-th erapie et de la musicoth erapie dans un grand centre m edical p ediatrique. Les mesures de la douleur et de l'humeur ont et e prises avant et apr es les s eances sur plus de deux ans et demi ans par six th erapeutes. Les r esultats indiquent que l'humeur s'am eliore de mani ere plus efficace apr es l'art-th erapie qu'apr es la musicoth erapie. Bien qu'aucune diff erence significative n'ait et e trouv ee dans la douleur mesur ee entre les modalit es, les donn ees portent a penser que la musicoth erapie est plus facilement tol er ee lorsque les patients connaissent des niveaux de douleur allant de mod er es a elev es, etant donn e que beaucoup moins de s eances d'art-th erapie ont puêtre compl et ees avec des patients pr esentant une douleur s ev ere. Une illustration de cas et la discussion des r esultats proposent des applications cliniques possibles pour maximiser l'impact des traitements expressifs dans les milieux m edicaux.
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