Qualitative and Arts-Based Evidence from Children Participating in a Pilot Randomised Controlled Study of School-Based Arts Therapies

Abstract

(1) Background: There is limited evidence on the impact of arts therapies as a tool for the prevention of mental health difficulties in childhood. This pilot randomised controlled study aimed to investigate the impact of arts therapies on children’s mental health and well-being; the qualitative and arts-based evidence is presented in this article. (2) Methods: Sixty-two children (aged 7–10) with mild emotional and behavioral difficulties were recruited across four primary schools and were randomly assigned to either art therapy, music therapy, dance movement therapy, or dramatherapy. All children were interviewed individually after their participation in arts therapies. (3) Results: Children verbally and artistically expressed that they experienced positive changes in their mental health and well-being, such as improved self-expression, safety, empowerment, hope, and optimism for the future. The arts were particularly important for expressing complex emotions and feelings that cannot be easily verbalised. Recommendations are provided to improve the quality of group arts therapies in future interventions, such as through smaller groups, longer sessions, and strategies to protect the therapeutic environment. (4) Conclusions: This study embraced all arts therapies as one research domain and set children’s verbal and non-verbal responses at the heart of outcome evaluation. This article highlights the importance of incorporating qualitative and arts-based methods to capture changes in children’s mental health well-being in future experimental studies.

A Scoping Review on the Use and Potential of School-Based Drama Therapy to Enhance Socio-emotional Skills in Early Childhood

“…Furthermore, similar to other members of school social support teams (e.g., social workers, psychologists) who typically have dedicated physical spaces, we advocate for a featured SBDT space within the school, or on school grounds, that is set up to flexibly engage children in dramatic play (Mayor & Frydman, 2021 ; Webb, 2019 ). This suggestion has been previously expressed by scholars in the field (Danieli et al, 2019 ; Moula et al, 2022 ; Regev et al, 2015 ), and would ideally serve to reduce reported experiences of instability among SBDT practitioners (Frydman & Mayor, 2021 ), thereby supporting ecological integration into the setting.…”

A Summary of Expressive Arts Therapy and Painting Therapy

“…Through combing and analyzing the related literature, it summarizes the wide application of EXAT and painting therapy in the fields of psychotherapy, rehabilitation nursing, education and other fields, as well as EXAT and painting therapy achieves significant therapeutic effects. For instance, in psychotherapy, EXAT or painting therapy has been shown to be useful in improving mental health, relieving stress and anxiety (Malchiodi, 2011), and improving self-acceptance (Moula et al, 2022). In the field of rehabilitative care, EXAT and painting therapy can help patients with pain and anxiety relief and distraction (Zhou, 2019).…”

Using Dancesport as an Educational Resource for Improving Institutionalized Children’s Learning Strategies

“…All these effects generate significant differences between dancers and non-dancers, which is why we recommend it as an educational resource for improving learning strategies. These effects can be complementary to the positive changes in children’s mental health well-being [ 39 ].…”