art-based research as a pedagogical approach to studying intersubjectivity in the creative arts therapies abstractAn art-based pedagogical research approach was used by a group of students and faculty who embarked upon a twelve-month process of artistic enquiry to explore the phenomenon of intersubjectivity as it emerged within a simulated creative arts therapies (CATs) context. The challenges we identified and faced soon became opportunities and phenomena central to representing our experience, as well as representing an emergent model for art-based research and CATs. Transition, transference, transcendence, transformation and translation are the phenomena we identified that described the dynamic and dialectic experiences of intersubjective artistic enquiry. We conclude that this emerging art-based pedagogical research model is essential not only to systematic enquiry in the CATs, but also in all forms of human self-/other exploration and meaning-making.We started with nothing. We started in nothingness. We started with big questions and expectations within us and big spaces between us. Our internal and Nancy Gerber | Elizabeth Templeton | Gioia Chilton … 40 interpersonal spaces were mirrored by a room with no windows, a multicoloured linoleum floor, and six people essentially unknown to one another. The external starkness of the room was particularly stunning as it reflected our own interiority. The environmental emptiness cleared away all distraction and we were faced with the stark reality of ourselves. Our silent questions and cautious anticipation seemed to whitewash our minds as if to annihilate our fears. All we had was ourselves, our histories, our hands, our feet, our bodies, our eyes and ears, movements, our pictures and our aspirations. How were we to learn about ourselves and others through creating artistic responses? There were some words on a syllabus that were supposed to tell us what to do and the instructors were making sounds about why we were here and how to proceed but we could not understand. Our anxiety made it difficult to swallow and digest the words and the sounds. We had no words except complaints about what was not there in the room -something was missing, what was missing? The room was like the blank page, the empty space, a creative desert. The anxieties, uncertainties and unfamiliarity momentarily froze our creative instincts. The inspiration had to come from within as stirred by the tensions from without. Questions sounded off in our minds like dissonant and rogue cymbals that drowned out the mumblings around us. How does this experience mimic our everyday lives -the dynamic interaction between internal and external -and how we understand ourselves defined by the environment and people around us. A wounded angel en pointe, a dance of peek-a-boo, a philosopher's house, a bound swan with her baby bird, and colourful squares emerged from the nothingness to tell our story of self and other. The first movement, the first sensation, the sound, and the first imprint on the paper began th...

This purposes of this mixed methods feasibility study were to determine whether people with schizophrenia in an inpatient psychiatric facility were able to complete the research protocol, and to obtain preliminary treatment effects of a single-session dance/movement therapy (DMT) intervention versus verbal treatment as usual (TAU). Thirty-two participants were randomized to a 45-minute DMT or verbal TAU session. Data were collected quantitatively using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and qualitatively through open-ended interviews. Results indicated that participants in the DMT group had statistically significant symptom reduction compared with those in the TAU group in overall BPRS scores (effect size [ES] = 0.67), psychological discomfort (ES = 0.64), negative symptoms (ES = 0.67), and positive symptoms (ES = 0.55). No statistical significance was shown for resistance. Qualitative findings substantiate the quantitative findings, however, show divergence regarding resistance. Participants in the DMT group expressed feeling in control, less angry, and motivated for treatment.

Although no statistically significant differences were present between the groups for the primary outcomes, several positive trends were noted. Thirty percent of Self-Book art therapy participants reported postintervention emotional distress scores that were below the abnormal range for emotional distress, compared with only 5% of standard care control participants, suggesting that Self-Book art therapy may have clinical value. Further studies are recommended to better understand the therapeutic mechanisms of Self-Book art therapy for enhancing psychological well-being.

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Integrating the arts with mixed methods research (MMR) presents untapped potential for innovative methodological approaches. Arts and MMR integration exists on a continuum, ranging from low-level (e.g., communicating about MMR using art) to high-level integration (e.g., interweaving arts-based and MMR approaches), and myriad art forms are available to facilitate concept formation, data collection, analysis, and representation. Given that a primary objective of the arts and MMR respectively is to explore and understand the complex social world, arts–MMR integration has potential to enable insights not possible through the use of either approach in isolation, and to present new opportunities for transformative social change. In this article, we explore such potentials and intersections philosophically and methodologically by way of four case examples framed by the newly conceptualized Art-MMR Integration Continuum, which ranges from communicative, data source, analytic, and conceptual integration.