Perceived Impact of Participation in a One-Time Expressive Arts Workshop

Abstract

Introduction This 2015 study examined the use of art to express the experience of the cancer journey of military cancer patients/cancer survivors, family and friends, caregivers, volunteers, and staff members through a one-time art-making workshop, administered by non-art therapists. Using art to express a medical/cancer journey may give participants, who cannot express their feelings in words, the ability to articulate their experience through art that looks at the creative process rather than the end result – expressive art. Materials and Methods This mixed methods study examined the use of art to express the cancer journey of participants. Twenty-eight adults participated in a one-time expressive arts workshop conducted by non-professional art therapists at a military medical center. The five domains of the Emotion Thermometer were analyzed to determine if the pre-event and post-event assessment results would differ. The Silver Drawing Test and Draw-a-Story assessment tools were used to identify emotions and attitudinal stance on six separate five-point scales. A qualitative analysis was done using the phenomenological method of the post-interviews that facilitated open expression to identify themes. Results A significant difference was found between the pre-event and post-event analyses using the Emotion Thermometer, with post-assessment results revealing lower levels in the three domains of distress, anxiety, and depression. The Silver Drawing Test and Draw-a-Story were analyzed for six components using a five-point scale, with the highest scores being content/meaning, ability to combine, and creativity. A qualitative analysis was done using the phenomenological method; post-interviews provided information to categorize the experience into four key themes: environment, connection, emotions, and discoveries. Conclusions Using art to express one’s journey through cancer allows participants to articulate that journey “beyond language.” This mixed methods study was administered by five non-professional art therapists with three having no expressive arts background. This study established that an expressive arts workshop can effectively be conducted by non-professional art therapists. The team of non-professional art therapists, who facilitated this one-time art-making workshop, demonstrated that a military member’s stress can be decreased by giving them “a voice” through expressive art.

Art Making as a Health Intervention

“…If art making as a health intervention includes some of the defining attributes, but not all of them , it constitutes a borderline case. We identified a borderline case of art making as a health intervention in the study of Morrison et al34 In this study, art making intervention has the following defining attributes: self-expression, creativity, and creation of art but not distraction. In Morrison et al's study, painting and drawing were used as a vehicle of self-expression for 28 military cancer patients.…”

Perfiles de pensamientos automáticos perfeccionistas y diferencias en la viveza de imágenes mentales

“…Es importante tener en cuenta la importancia de las emociones en el proceso creativo, pues un estado de ánimo positivo, con una mayor motivación y felicidad, se asocia con un mayor vínculo de creatividad, así como con su descenso con estados de ánimo negativos (Baas et al, 2008). De hecho, se ha demostrado que el desarrollo de intervenciones artísticas disminuye el estrés en pacientes hospitalizados y familiares (Morrison et al, 2019). Y a este respecto cabe destacar también los estudios examinados con anterioridad que marcan de manera positiva resultados de bienestar psíquico mediante intervenciones con imágenes mentales (Di-Simplicio et al, 2016;Ji et al, 2017;Khasky y Smith, 1999;Werner-Seidler y Moulds, 2012).…”