The article aims to investigate the feasibility, acceptability, and initial efficacy of a short-term 3-day art therapy group for children who have experienced parental death to cancer.

The study utilized a pretest–posttest design and included children (n = 20) aged 7–12 years. The feasibility of the intervention was measured by recruitment ability, study compliance, and intervention adherence, while acceptability was assessed using a child-reported satisfaction survey. Efficacy was examined using the child-reported Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL), while the emotional, social, and behavioral functioning of children was measured using the parent-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Paired sample t-tests were used for analyses.

The intervention was found to be feasible (80% recruitment rate and 100% session adherence). Acceptability was high, and all participants were satisfied and found the intervention to be helpful. While results did not reach statistical significance, improvements in psychosocial and physical quality of life were reported by all the children post-intervention and at the 3-month follow-up. Parent-reported a decrease in behavioral difficulties scores and an increase in prosocial behavior scores at post-intervention and at the 3-month follow-up.

The 3-day art therapy group intervention was shown to be feasible to conduct and acceptable to the recipients. The intervention shows promise in improving post-death adjustment and quality of life outcomes of children bereaved by parental death due to cancer that were maintained after 3 months. The use of art therapy groups to ameliorate difficulties associated with parental loss and to assist children in coping day-to-day difficulties should be further investigated.

Art-therapy (encompassing plastic arts, music, theather and writing) is a promising and acceptable management strategy of eating disorders (ED). It has the potential to improve well-being and therapeutic alliance, targeting psychological dimensions of ED, and dealing with difficulties of expression and rationalization of patients. Nevertheless, the efficacy of this approach is difficult to evaluate because of the lack of studies in this area.

We sought to provide an overview on the efficacy of art therapy in the management of ED, by a systematic review of all controlled trials using art therapy on patients with ED.

This systematic review included all controlled trials using art-therapy on a population of adolescent and adult patients with ED. The effect of art therapy on clinical indicators such as anthropometric variables, symptoms and dimensions of ED was evaluated.

Of the 1286 screened records, only four respected inclusion criteria. These four trials evaluated plastic art therapy, music therapy, writing therapy, and dance-movement therapy. A large number of bias and strong heterogeneity of inclusion criteria, techniques and variables prevented any attempt of quantitative synthesis. Music therapy appeared to have a significant effect on post-prandial anxiety, while dance-movement therapy showed an effect on body dissatisfaction.

The generalizability of the results found is weakened by the high heterogeneity of trials. Replication studies and a rigorous methodologies are necessary for more reliable conclusions. Art therapy could help improving some specific dimensions of ED.

No significant relationships.

The role of the art therapist can be to identify the creative potential, to value it and to support social integration through art. Detecting and developing the outstanding and hidden abilities of the atypical child can lead to a normal behavior and to a better social integration.

Increasing self-esteem, through personal satisfaction, emotional development and the development of hidden and outstanding skills.

Stimulating the child through the environment, works as a non-directive method during the art therapy session. Work environments offer various possibilities of expression, he chooses the materials to which he shows an interest, developing his own technique over time.

The child is encouraged during the art therapy sessions, by exhibiting the works and decorating the work environment.

Through these non-directive methods, the evolution of visual thinking is accelerated. The chromatic diversification, the gestures in painting and the alternation of work techniques such as printing, graphic lines and dripping, are signs of a visual thinking. The child discovers the environment and interacts with it trough art.

Observing the potential of the materials around him and also certains physical phenomena, such as a three-dimensional mask that allows the color to outline its volumes by draining it on the shape, the child uses consciously the properties of materials and the movement of the object.

Discovering artistic and decorative skills; Increased self-esteem; Interaction in the artistic environment and even verbal communication in cases of autism.

Through art, the child can get closer to the social life.

No significant relationships.

The language of visual arts speaks to us in a way that words cannot. Acknowledging the therapeutic effects of artistic expression, art therapy – a psychotherapeutic approach that integrates expressive characteristics of art and explorative characteristics of psychotherapy – has developed. From its beginnings, it has been used with people with psychotic disorders and is enlisted in NICE guidelines as psychological therapy for psychosis and schizophrenia.

To understand and to activate the potential of artistic expression in people with psychotic disorders treated on acute ward, in day hospitals and as a form of long-term therapy in the Patients club of the University psychiatric hospital „Sveti Ivan“.

Art therapy programme is conducted separately on acute ward (Ward for integrative psychiatry), day hospitals (Day hospital for integrative psychiatry and Day hospital for psychotic disorders) and in the Patients club with patients with psychotic disorders. The workshops are adjusted for people with psychotic disorders to enable them to strengthen their sense of self, to empower them and to express their authentic feelings in a safe environment.

The artwork of people who have taken part in the art therapy programmes for psychosis of the University psychiatric hospital „Sveti Ivan“ will be presented and will serve as an example of an art therapy process, therapeutic goals, as well as the significance of this method for psychotic disorders.

Art therapy can be of great benefit for people with psychosis both on acute wards and as a long-term therapy.

No significant relationships.

The link between school education and art therapy is supported by the fact that it comes to supplement the common school education activities of children with special educational requirements with a dual purpose: to complete and fix their specific content; to train and practice as much as possible the students’ minds and critical thinking through artistic means.

Prevention of absenteeism and school dropout of the child with special educational requirements through art therapy.

In art therapy, the most used methods specific to the fields of visual arts are: drawing, painting, icon, modeling on the wheel, but other techniques can be used. Children are the ones who choose their work materials and activities from the offer that the art therapist makes.

From the offer of materials, the beneficiary prefers to paint porcelain objects and letters. He was challenged to identify letters after which he painted them.

Increasing the feeling of social utility, self-confidence. Improving school situation. Reducing school dropout and literacy.

The beneficiary has an interest in letters and numbers and their writing. Form words quickly, easily identifying letters. Create your own games by comparing numbers. Make puzzles with letters and numbers.

Art education helps the beneficiary to more easily express their emotions, perceptions, desires and way of thinking. Learning numbers and letters becomes a fun activity when using colors.

The child needs education through art, because without it there is an imbalance in the fundamental purpose of man, that of developing harmoniously and multilaterally.

No significant relationships.

. Cluj-Napoca in Transylvania, Romania, has a historically multiethnic population who maintain their language-based cultural identities. In order to harmonize interethnic relations in our multicultural society, art-therapeutical methods depend on the need to establish a sensitive relationship between the cultural horizon of individuals, thus increasing self-confidence, tolerance, resilience.

The objectives are : to develop social skills, which facilitate the social and professional integration of children and adolescents belonging to ethnic groups living together, including those with disabilities.

Clinical art therapy have unfolded within interdisciplinary teams: a neuropsychiatry doctor, a psychologist, a pedagogue, a social worker, an art therapist– each one having a specialized role. A medical project was transformed into an artistic project: E xperimenting with complex relationships: shape of the human body – shape of man-made objects and the creation of personal shapes conduct to harmonize interethnic relations in a multicultural place.

Focus on several objectives: - practicing the abilities to express one’s feelings - the consolidation of self-respect and of confidence - the training of empathy - the development of personal problem and conflict solving strategies -the breaking through the emotional blockages - the improvement of cognitive abilities -the release of tension, frustrations, anxieties, stress -the development of social skills

Benefits arise from experiences based in artistic creativity: materializing ideas and coping with unexpected outcomes.

No significant relationships.

Social connection is often impacted by acquired brain injury (ABI), contributing to isolation and compromised mental health. Group therapy is thought useful in this context. For those experiencing cognitive communication challenges, finding alternative ways to engage is also valuable. Art therapy may offer pro-social support through shared activity, self-expression, organic subject matter and enduring visual prompts.

A multiple A-B-A single case experimental design compared participation in sports discussion and art therapy groups on a long-stay secure unit. Nine individuals with ABI and complex combinations of communication, cognitive and mental health needs were studied. It was hypothesised that for some individuals, participation would be greater in art therapy than sports discussion groups.

Results from six individuals with at least five measurement points per phase are reported. Tau statistics revealed significant interphase differences for three individuals. Significantly less participation was recorded for two individuals in art than sports discussion, however they still appeared invested in the art groups. The remaining participant, with the most severe communication difficulties, avoided all baseline sports discussion groups, but participated in almost all art groups, with significant increase between initial sports discussion and art phases.

Further research is warranted regarding the potential art therapy offers for group engagement, particularly where complex challenges render traditional talking-style groups less appropriate. Furthermore, disparate and complex needs in severe ABI require diverse, well-designed groups offering different opportunities and responding to individual strengths and motivations. More research into such approaches may increase group participation in this challenging cohort.

This follow-up study on perceived self-image and psychophysical distress/psychic symptoms was based on a ranomized contolled study of art therapy on women with breast cancer.

The aim was to examine the long-term effects of time-limited art therapy using the instruments of Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB) and Symptom Check List-90 (SCL-90).

Three attachment clusters of the SASB showed significant changes post therapy: Autonomous self (cluster 1), Accepting self (cluster 2), and Loving self (cluster 3). Clusters 2 and 3 continued to change in favor of the intervention group at the 5-year follow-up. There were no significant differences in the SCL-90 results between the intervention group and the control group in the follow-up study.

The art therapy intervention was both therapeutic and psycho-educative. The conclusion of this study is that approaching emotions through time-limited art therapy seems to have a long-lasting effect on the attachment behavioral system shown in the SASB model post intervention, and this effect remained 5 years later.

The purpose of art in art-therapy, in this context, is not an exercise of the already acquired knowledge upon the artistic material, but a discovery of the yet unknown. “Multimedia technology, which has evolved into meaningful visual representations, incorporates the science behind human perception and knowledge…Contemporary visual arts bring together, in different degrees of relationship and fusion, fields of art that until now were understood and practiced more individually. The most suitable territory for this partnership is that of the physical and metaphysical environment, provided by the installationist and shareholder arts.” [1].

Art-based therapies, as nondirective methods, attempt to visualize past traumatic experiences and harmonize the individual with himself and with others.

In the preventive activities we include all activities involving nonverbal communication and holistic engagement. ”Beneficiaries can create their own images with which they want to interact, to arrange their environment…We experiment with art-specific ways to make interdisciplinary exchanges and cultural interferences using the universal language of visual arts along with intercultural elements and religious ecumenism … Sometimes, common themes with schools and higher education are addressed as an extra-curricular complement. Benefits are multiple, diverse and complex, appear on the paths that offer inter/pluri/transcultural learning opportunities and exchange of knowledge, making space and time connections between different cultures. [2]

The creative process and the interaction increases self esteem, courage, taking of risks, the learning of new skills.

New ideas, conceptions and ways of expression emerge, enriching the patient’s life according with the therapeutic purposes. [3].

REFERENCES [1] Chirila, Emilia (2011), PhD Thesis, Educaţie artistică şi art-terapie cu mijloace specifice ceramicii [Artistic Education and Art-therapy within the Specific Means of Ceramics], University of Art and Design, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, p. 390

Previous research on art therapy (AT) in cognitive aging has been lacking. AT can potentially engender significant cognitive gains, due to its rigorous cognitive involvement, making it useful to tackle age-related cognitive decline. Along with these cognitive gains, associated neuroplastic changes are hypothesized to arise from AT as well. The current intervention examined the effects of an AT intervention on cognitive outcomes and cortical thickness (CT) among participants with mild cognitive impairment.

Participants were assigned to AT (n = 22) and an active control group (n = 27). In both, weekly 45-min sessions were carried out across 3 months. Cognitive assessments and structural magnetic resonance imaging scans were carried out at baseline and 3-month follow-up. Whole brain analyses on CT were carried out. Cognitive outcomes were analyzed using hierarchical linear models.

Significant gains in immediate memory and working memory span were observed in the AT group, relative to the control group. Significantly increased CT in the AT group, relative to controls, was observed in a right middle frontal gyrus (MFG) cluster. Furthermore, CT changes in this cluster were significantly and positively correlated with changes in immediate memory.

These findings highlighted the role of MFG neuroplasticity in enhancing certain cognitive functions in AT. AT is a neuroplastic intervention capable of engendering significant cognitive gains and associated cortical changes in the context of age-related cognitive decline, even when executed as a low-intensity intervention across 3 months. Given the preliminary nature of these findings, future larger sampled studies are needed.

Detoxified alcoholics often have specific deficit in perceptual capacities, motor performance, memory function and abstracting abilities. To illustrate the clinical observations of cognitive impairment expressed in drawings of alcoholics we used two case vignettes.

Qualitative analysis of form and content of drawings and group protocols were applied. Art group therapy is a part of integrative therapy in Day unit. It involves two steps: 1) drawing by free associations and 2) discussing exhibited drawings in group. The group is open, heterogeneous and meets once a week. The drawings of two healthy, neurological intact, right-handed male alcoholics, aged 36 and 39 years were analysed. They were previously hospitalised because of serious alcohol withdrawal syndrome. There was more than 4 weeks after last drink.

The both alcoholics showed impairment of perception and executive functions, but they did not notice it. After confrontation in the group they recognised their cognitive deficit and accepted that they had serious damage caused by alcohol, regardless of good medical condition. The clinical improvement was presented by improving in next drawings, and discussing in the group with more self-confidence.

Art therapy makes possible visual expression of emotions, perceptions and cognitions, and provide large variety of confrontation and support within group, thus facilitating integrative therapeutic process of alcoholics.

This paper reviews the efficacy of a community psychosocial arts program focused on building mental health capacity within post-Ebola Liberia. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the outcome effects of two groups using pre- and post-treatment data. We hypothesized that there would be a difference in symptoms pre- and post-treatment, and the longer program would yield more significant results.

There was a total of 870 child participants. Of 40 sites, 24 were selected for a 5-month treatment (TG1) while the remaining 16 sites received 3 months of treatment (TG2). Paired t tests and a mixed-model analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyse pre- and post-psychological stress symptoms (PSS) for samples from both groups.

Separately, treatment group 1 (TG1) and treatment group 2's (TG2) paired t test yielded significant results (p < 0.001) for the decrease of PSS. The mixed-model ANOVA found that there were significant differences in total pre- and post-test PSS and a significant difference in PSS means over time.

Results indicated that there was a statistically significant decrease in reported symptoms in both treatment groups pre- to post-intervention and a significant difference in total symptoms over time. However, the findings do not indicate that the longer programming was statistically different compared to the shorter programming. The study presented had gaps in data, largely due to limits in research during the crisis. However, this paper provides a unique case study for challenges that can be faced for project evaluation in emergency settings.

This study aimed to explore whether aesthetic beauty and the pleasure that results from artistic activity can contribute to a reduction in the symptoms experienced by palliative care patients, and to improve the effectiveness of art therapy sessions.

A self-assessment of six symptoms (pain, anxiety, ill-being, tiredness, sadness, and depression) adapted from the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) was completed by patients before and after a one-hour art therapy session. This assessment was completed after the session with a self-assessment of aesthetic feeling. A correlation analysis was then performed.

From July of 2012 to December of 2013, 28 patients took part in 63 art therapy sessions. On the whole, these sessions reduced the global distress of patients by 47% (p < 0.0001). There was a significant reduction in all the symptoms studied; pain (p = 0.003), anxiety (p < 0.0001), ill-being (p < 0.0001), tiredness (p < 0.0001), sadness (p < 0.0001), and depression (p < 0.0001). A study of the significant correlations (0.35 < rs < 0.52, p < 0.05) indicated that technical satisfaction, aesthetic beauty, and pleasure are all involved to varying degrees in reduction of symptoms.

Our findings confirm the benefits of art therapy in reducing distress within the palliative context. We also make suggestions for the future direction and improvement of these sessions.

The aim of the art therapy study was twofold: 1) to identify the specific factors of the art therapy experience perceived as helpful by patients undergoing an allogenic hemopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT); and 2) to establish an appropriate criterion for referral to art therapy among this population.

Between 2006 and 2010, a dedicated art therapist met all the patients who were referred to her by the hematologist. The art therapy approach and techniques are described. Outcome was evaluated by self-assessment, based on written questionnaires that were given to the patients before discharge.

Seventy-four patients followed the weekly individual sessions during isolation and filled out the questionnaire. All of them defined the art therapy experience as “helpful” and specified in which way it had been helpful. Through a thematic analysis of the patients' written comments, three specific aspects of art therapy, which the patients found most helpful, were identified: (1) being able to calm down from anxiety, through the use of art therapy techniques (77.02%); (2) feeling free to express and share difficult feelings, which they had not communicated verbally (75.67%); and (3) establishing meaningful connections with their loved ones, through images made in art therapy (36.48%). Case illustrations are provided.

The results suggest that referral to art therapy from the team might be helpful and appropriate: (1) when patients are anxious; (2) when they are uncommunicative and hide their feelings; and (3) when they feel disconnected from their loved ones at home.

Even though terminal cancer patients receive help from a hospice palliative care team, they have to suffer the pressure of death with deteriorating conditions. This study aims to evaluate the effect of art therapy for these terminal cancer patients.

The patients involved were terminal cancer patients who were under the care of team members, which included physicians, nurses, social workers, clergy, art therapists, and volunteers in a hospice palliative care unit in Taiwan. The art therapy in our study took the form of visual fine art appreciation and hands-on painting. The effects of the art therapy were evaluated according to patients' feelings, cognitions, and behaviors.

There were 177 patients (105 males and 72 females; mean age: 65.4 ±15.8 years) in the study. Each patient received a mean of 2.9 ± 2.0 sessions of the art therapy and produced a mean of 1.8 ± 2.6 pieces of art. During the therapy, most patients described their feelings well, and created art works attentively. Patients expressed these feelings through image appreciation and hands-on painting, among which the landscape was the most common scene in their art. After the therapy, the mean score of patients' artistic expressions (one point to each category: perception of beauty, art appreciation, creativity, hands-on artwork, and the engagement of creating artwork regularly) was 4.0 ± 0.7, significantly higher than the score before therapy (2.2 ± 1.4, p < 0.05). During the therapy, 70% of patients felt much or very much relaxed in their emotional state and 53.1% of patients felt much or very much better physically.

Terminal cancer patients in a hospice palliative care unit in Taiwan may benefit from art therapy through visual art appreciation and hands-on creative artwork.

Art therapy has been shown to be helpful to cancer patients at different stages in the course of their illness, especially during isolation for bone marrow transplantation, during radiotherapy treatment, and after treatment. The aim of this study is twofold: (1) to assess whether patients during chemotherapy sessions perceive art therapy as helpful and (2) to outline in which way art therapy is perceived as helpful.

157 cancer patients attending an Oncology Day Hospital (Siena, Italy) met the art therapist during their chemotherapy sessions. The art therapist used the same art therapy technique with each patient during the first encounter (“free collage”); afterward the relationship would evolve in different ways according to the patients' needs. A psychologist interviewed a randomized group of 54 patients after the chemotherapy treatment using a semistructured questionnaire.

Out of the 54 patients, 3 found art therapy “not helpful” (“childish,” “just a chat,” “not interesting”). The other 51 patients described their art therapy experience as “helpful.” From patients' statements, three main groups emerged: (1) art therapy was perceived as generally helpful (e.g., “relaxing,” “creative”; 37.3%), (2) art therapy was perceived as helpful because of the dyadic relationship (e.g., “talking about oneself and feeling listened to”; 33.3%), and (3) art therapy was perceived as helpful because of the triadic relationship, patient–image–art therapist (e.g., “expressing emotions and searching for meanings”; 29.4%).

These data have clinical implications, as they show that art therapy may be useful to support patients during the stressful time of chemotherapy treatment. Different patients use it to fulfil their own different needs, whether it is a need to relax (improved mood) or to talk (self-narrative) or to visually express and elaborate emotions (discovering new meanings). Some illustrations of patients using the art therapy process to fulfill these three different needs are provided.