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This narrative review examines the effectiveness of Art Therapy (AT) for people with psychosis and explores whether art therapy is a meaningful and acceptable intervention. Seven electronic databases were searched for empirical papers that concerned the use of art therapy with adults with psychosis that were published from 2007 onwards. The search identified eighteen papers. The highest quality quantitative articles provided inconclusive evidence for the effectiveness of art therapy. The highest quality qualitative articles indicated that therapists and clients considered art therapy to be a beneficial, meaningful, and acceptable intervention, although this was based on limited studies. There is a discrepancy between the quantitative evidence regarding art therapy effectiveness and the qualitative evidence highlighting the value given to it by clients and therapists. Theoretical, clinical, and methodological issues are discussed in light of the development of more robust research, which is needed to corroborate individuals' experiences and guide evidence-based practice. AbstractThis narrative review examines the effectiveness of Art Therapy (AT) for people with psychosis and explores whether art therapy is a meaningful and acceptable intervention.Seven electronic databases were searched for empirical papers that concerned the use of art therapy with adults with psychosis that were published from 2007 onwards. The search identified eighteen papers. The highest quality quantitative articles provided inconclusive evidence for the effectiveness of art therapy. The highest quality qualitative articles indicated that therapists and clients considered art therapy to be a beneficial, meaningful, and acceptable intervention, although this was based on limited studies. There is a discrepancy between the quantitative evidence regarding art therapy effectiveness and the qualitative evidence highlighting the value given to it by clients and therapists. Theoretical, clinical, and methodological issues are discussed in light of the development of more robust research, which is needed to corroborate individuals' experiences and guide evidence-based practice. This support for the helpfulness of art therapy is rooted in theory and clinical experience and is weakly substantiated by rigorous, controlled research. National guidelines on the treatment of specific conditions, are based on the highest quality scientific evidence, which includes Randomised Control Trials (RCTs) and systematic reviews which have at least one RCT. 13By comparison, studies which use cohort, case-control, cross-sectional, or single case designs are considered to provide weaker evidence. 14The effectiveness of art therapy is primarily established through RCTs. In an early Cochrane review, the lack of RCTs prevented conclusions from being drawn about the effectiveness of art therapy for people with schizophrenia. 15 Nevertheless, the two reviewed studies 16,17 contributed The growing interest in art therapy is also evident through recent systema...

This article aims to understand and explore the meaning of adaptation to First Episode Psychosis (FEP). An innovative method of data collection was used with ten participants who experienced FEP which integrated drawings of their lived experience within semi-structured interviews. The data were analysed through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and hermeneutic-phenomenological image analysis. Participants' experience was captured in four superordinate themes which identified that adaptation to FEP entailed: 'Finding out how psychosis fits into my story', 'Breaking free from psychosis', 'Fighting my way through psychosis', and 'Finding a new way of being 'me''. The participants' path of adaptation to FEP was an interplay of pains, challenges, and gains, and there was resonance with posttraumatic growth in their accounts. This article illustrates that creating images may offer a powerful way of conveying the multifaceted aspects of adaptation to FEP and could help individuals in communicating and processing their experience.

Aim: Early Intervention in psychosis Services (EIS) have previously restricted access based on age. However, there is now a move to age inclusive service. We aimed to examine differences between early and late onset (>35 years) psychosis to see if a threshold was valid. We also investigated the potential of a statistical modelling method to identify group characteristics which may be missed using a descriptive approach. Method: Routine clinical data (n=343), from an EIS, comprising sociodemographic, clinical, phys ical, and treatment variables, were examined using descriptive and classification and regression tree (CART) analysis. Results: The findings suggest that age differences were best explained by social factors. There was no emerging evidence that the differences exhibited had a fundamental impact on the clinical outcomes of the clients in terms of support beyond EIS (i.e., hospitalisation and home treatment team involvement) and pharmacological and psychological interventions. CART analysis revealed distinct service user characteristics associated with the clinical outcomes. Conclusion: There was no evidence to support a clinical cut off based on age providing support for age inclusive services. However, in the transition to age inclusive service delivery, EIS need to consider social / life stage variables, adapting provision where service delivery may operate a youth focused model. Routine analysis of clinical data should employ methods to identify groups of service users who may require adjusted service provision..

Background/Aims UK mental health services must provide evidence-based psychological treatments, including family intervention, to every service user diagnosed with psychosis. Although healthcare managers are required to ensure equitable delivery of prescribed core treatments, in practice equality of access remains debatable. This study investigates equality of access to family intervention for psychosis. Subsequent treatment uptake and engagement are also examined. The role of healthcare records in equality management is considered. Methods Retrospective analysis of electronic medical records of 244 service users across four specialist early intervention teams in London in 2018 was undertaken using binary logistic regression and multiple linear regression. Bonferroni adjustment was applied to control for type 1 errors. Results Participants were found to have equal access to the nationally endorsed treatment across all demographic variables. Likewise, treatment uptake and engagement were equally distributed. Conclusions An overall compliance with national policies was shown, demonstrating that equal provision of core treatment for psychosis is achievable. As discrepancies in record keeping were shown to impede the data extraction process, suggestions were made for the management of electronic medical records in mental healthcare services.