Characteristics of House-Tree-Person Drawing Test in Junior High School Students with Depressive Symptoms

Objective This study aims to extract and quantitatively analyze the tree drawing projection indices from groups of patients with depression, patients in remission, and a normal control group, to explore characteristic indicators of tree drawing projections in individuals with depression and provide a basis for auxiliary diagnosis and condition assessment of depression. Methods Tree drawing tests were administered to 59 patients with depression, 57 patients in remission, and 59 normal controls. Computer image recognition and data collection were used for quantitative analysis of the tree projections, and statistical analysis was conducted on the results from the three groups. Results ANOVA tests revealed significant statistical differences between the depression patients, remission patients, and normal controls in the following quantitative indices: canopy area, canopy height, canopy width, trunk area, trunk width, total area, and the ratio of canopy width to trunk width (P values: 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.003, 0.000, 0.004, 0.000). No significant differences were found in trunk height, root width, root height, root area, total height, the ratio of canopy height to trunk height, and the ratio of canopy area to trunk area. Further LSD-t tests showed that compared to the depression group, the remission group exhibited significant differences in canopy area, canopy height, canopy width, trunk area, trunk width, the ratio of canopy height to trunk width, and total area (P values: 0.001, 0.000, 0.009, 0.002, 0.000, 0.046, 0.007, 0.000). No significant differences were found in the other six indices; also, no significant differences were found between the remission group and the normal control group across all 14 indices. Conclusion There are seven quantitative indices where significant statistical differences exist among the tree drawings from the depression group, the remission group, and the normal control group, and seven indices where no significant differences were found. The quantitative indices of tree drawing projections have potential value for the auxiliary diagnosis and condition assessment of depression.

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Daily meals in context: A quantitative analysis of elementary school students' drawings

Kinoshita

Goto²,

Okabe³

et al. 2023

Front. Commun.

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To investigate school-age children's perspectives on food and nutrition, we pilot tested a method to quantify and analyze crayon drawings collected from students in health education classes at two elementary schools in Fukushima, Japan. Included were 28 students in a mixed class of first and second graders and 26 students in a fourth-grade class. Specific foods, general shapes, and color choices in children's drawings were entered into a spreadsheet and analyzed quantitatively. From first- and second-graders' data, co-occurrence network analysis put meals into three groups: at home, eating out, and lunch boxes. Among fourth graders, co-occurrence network analysis called attention to the cucumber, noteworthy for being a local agricultural product. In addition, students who drew more side dishes also drew more staple foods and main dishes (p = 0.04), used more colors (p = 0.006), and showed satisfaction with their community (p = 0.04). These results suggest that students' understanding of eating was centered on the places where they eat and that they valued regional specialty products. Furthermore, the drawing of side dishes was indicative of a balanced diet, which in turn was associated with higher satisfaction with their community. Our trial indicates that children's drawings can be a useful tool for adults to grasp children's understanding of health-related information in daily living.

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Characteristics of House-Tree-Person Drawing Test in Junior High School Students with Depressive Symptoms

Cited by 3 publications

References 34 publications

Application of Projection Test (HTP) in Mental Health Assessment

Application of Projection Test (HTP) in Mental Health Assessment

Research on the Application of Tree Drawing Projection Tests in the Auxiliary Diagnosis and Condition Assessment of Depression

Daily meals in context: A quantitative analysis of elementary school students' drawings

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