Online Art Therapy in Elementary Schools During COVID-19: Results from A Randomized Cluster Trial and Impact on Mental Health.

Abstract

Background: Emerging literature on the current COVID-19 crisis suggests that children may experience increased anxiety and depression as a result of the pandemic. To prevent such school and mental health-related problems, there is a timely need to develop preventive strategies and interventions to address potential negative impacts of COVID-19 on children’s mental health, especially in school settings. Results from previous child clinical research indicate that art-based therapies, including mindfulness-based art therapy, have shown promise increase children’s well-being and reduce psychological distress. Objective: The goal of the present pilot and feasibility study was to compare the impact of an emotion-based directed drawing intervention (experimental condition) and a mandala drawing intervention (active control condition), both group-based, delivered online and remotely, on mental health, in elementary school children (N=30), in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. A randomized cluster trial was implemented to evaluate and compare the impact of both interventions on anxiety, depression, inattention and hyperactivity symptoms. Results: ANCOVAs revealed a significant effect of the type of drawing intervention on levels of inattention, after controlling for baseline levels. Participants in the emotion-based directed drawing group showed lower inattention scores at post-test, when compared to participants in the mandala group. Conclusion: Overall, results from this pilot and feasibility study showed that an emotion-based directed drawing intervention was more beneficial than a mandala drawing intervention on inattention symptoms of elementary school children, in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic. From a feasibility standpoint, results indicate that the implementation of both interventions online and remotely, through a videoconference platform, is feasible and adequate in school-based settings. Further work incorporating larger sample sizes, longitudinal data and ensuring sufficient statistical power is warranted to evaluate the long-term impact of both interventions on children’s mental health.

Meaning making and fostering radical hope: applying positive psychology to eco-anxiety research in youth

“…This may help address existential threats that are provoked by climate change and foster meaning in life, namely through coherence with one's values (i.e., selfdetermined motivation) and overall purpose, appropriate to their developmental level (114). Furthermore, previous work on P4C and mental health brings us to conclude that when children are faced with existential questions, supporting them in reflecting and developing critical thinking skills about these questions improves their wellbeing and self-determination (107,108).…”

“…Philosophy for children (P4C), a pedagogical approach that promotes critical thinking, caring, creative reasoning and inquiry in schools, is a good example of an intervention that can promote meaning making. Moreover, although it was not initially developed with the aim of having an impact on children's mental health, P4C has been shown to improve children's mental health (107,108). By fostering greater resiliency and self-determined motivation in children, P4C (and other similar interventions) could also promote greater engagement about the climate crisis and perhaps reduce distressing levels of eco-anxiety for some children.…”