Acquired brain injury (ABI) during adolescence presents even greater challenges to youth already facing complex issues in this transitory period. Studies have demonstrated that youth with ABI suffer from social and community withdrawal as a result of their injuries. However, a lack of research focusing on interventions designed to promote community integration has left the effectiveness of these programs difficult to assess. The current study aimed to collect pilot data about the effectiveness of an expressive arts-based therapeutic program in helping to improve community integration of these youth, as these therapies have been shown to be useful for individuals with similar cognitive and behavioural issues. Results over 2 stages of testing suggest that expressive arts therapy is a promising intervention strategy to help promote social and community integration skills. The findings also suggest that more research is needed to develop improved measures of community integration for adolescents with ABI.

Acquired brain injury (ABI) during adolescence presents even greater challenges to youth already facing complex issues in this transitory period. Studies have demonstrated that youth with ABI suffer from social and community withdrawal as a result of their injuries. However, a lack of research focusing on interventions designed to promote community integration has left the effectiveness of these programs difficult to assess. The current study aimed to collect pilot data about the effectiveness of an expressive arts-based therapeutic program in helping to improve community integration of these youth, as these therapies have been shown to be useful for individuals with similar cognitive and behavioural issues. Results over 2 stages of testing suggest that expressive arts therapy is a promising intervention strategy to help promote social and community integration skills. The findings also suggest that more research is needed to develop improved measures of community integration for adolescents with ABI.

Experiences of attunement, a deeply felt and embodied state of consciousness that results from tuning in to oneself, others, events, energies, and the environment, are the basis for realization of innate human capacities for connection and growth (Kossak, 2015). In an educational context, the process of 'tuning in' fosters the development of relationally based and embodied knowledge (Blades and Bester, 2013; Lutzker, 2014). Though rarely referenced and never studied comprehensively in counselor education, attunement contributes to the development of relational qualities and creativity necessary to provide effective counseling services (Duffey, Haberstroh, and Trepal, 2009; Kossak, 2015). Based on a synthesis of knowledge from diverse fields, this study was an exploration of attunement in counselor education involving several forms of measurement and the expressive arts as vehicles through which to foster attuned states. The researcher explored attunement as it occurred among master's level counselors-in-training engaging in improvisational group drumming, an intervention that has been shown to promote attunement (e.g., Kossak, 2008a). Perceptual, behavioral, and physiological measures were used to identify an occurrence of attunement. Audio and video data were used to contextualize the overall drumming experience and the process of 'tuning in' that led to attuned states. Findings from this study increase understanding of the phenomenon of attunement in the context of improvisational group drumming. Results shed light on how relational qualities and creativity develop and may promote more relational-responsive pedagogical practices in counselor education. Ultimately, results may contribute to the development of counselors with greater capacities for relating to diverse clients, responding to the complexities of their work, and creating meaningful change within their communities and society at large. / Ph. D.

Therapeutic education initiatives embodying a whole child approach can be seen to address the intellectual, emotional, bodily and spiritual as being part of a child’s educational self. Through designing and implementing the concept of “aesthetic life narratives” in a primary school classroom, my research produces a curricular example of how therapeutic notions such as those found in psychological thought can be integrated into contemporary Scottish education through narrative and aesthetic means, exemplifying how individual children can make sense of expressive processes and roles introduced to them in an educational context. The specific characteristics of the research space and the particular interactive quality of research participation also illustrate how different children are able to participate in a short-term emotional education intervention specifically designed to be empowering. At the same time, my experience shows that the complex dynamic between the subjective life of a researcher and the historical nature of a child’s experience with caregivers in their home life can shape educational/research experience, as well as its adult and child participants, in ways unanticipated. What transpired in the process of applying philosophical ideas to the real lives of children in my research produced ethical implications regarding critical reflexivity and the socio-cultural regard of the child that are of wider relevance to educators, researchers, counsellors and policy makers who interact with children in their own work.

The objective of educational innovation, wherever it takes place, at school or at national level, is to improve current practices. In its recent attempt to improve the quality of education in Malawi, the national government in 2001 embarked on curriculum reform and adopted an Outcomes Based curriculum which was implemented in 2007. The design features of the Malawi Outcomes Based Education were influenced by South Africa’s Curriculum 2005. Following the implementation of the curriculum reform, the purpose of this study was to investigate the enactment of Expressive Arts, its theme-based design and content, facilitative pedagogy and continuous assessment in a selection of six state primary schools – three urban and three rural in Zomba district where teachers were first trained to teach Expressive Arts. The study is framed by the theory of Illuminative evaluation (Parlett and Hamilton, 1976) and Productive Pedagogies (Lingard et al., 2001). Following a qualitative research design, data were collected through observation and post-observation interviews. Data analysis showed limited productive pedagogies in most lessons. The majority of lessons were characterised by lower intellectual quality, a focus on instrumental knowledge, integration at a superficial level, dominance of communalising practices, gendered practices, prevalence of localising discourses and a pedagogy aimed at national examinations. The overall picture from these findings is that classroom atmosphere in the twelve classrooms gave students limited opportunities for the acquisition of knowledge and development of skills, values and attitudes required for them to actively participate in the changing Malawian context and to be able to compete successfully in other contexts. It appears that dominant pedagogic practices in the Expressive Arts classroom serve to position learners in parochial orientations and issues. Therefore, there was an obvious discrepancy between the state’s intended curriculum and the teachers’ enacted curriculum. The implications of these findings for Malawi education have been raised. The most salient of these implications include the need for Malawi Institute of Education, the main change agent of primary school curriculum in the country, not only to consider revising the Expressive Arts curriculum but also to focus on the development of teachers in line with their needs for deeper content knowledge and productive pedagogic strategies.

Den här studien handlar om konstens möjligheter i mellanmänskliga möten utifrån en öppen verksamhet kallad "Skaparkväll", som bedrivs i en mellansvensk stad inom ramen för Svenska kyrkan. Studien syftar till att få en fördjupad förståelse av några deltagares personliga upplevelser av verksamheten med hjälp av kvalitativa intervjuer. Med inspiration från en hermeneutisk ansats tolkas intervjuerna samt blir belysta genom en teoretisk förståelseram. På så sätt fördjupas förståelsen både för personernas upplevelser samt för verksamheten i allmänhet. Den teoretiska förståelseramen hämtas från traditionen kring Uttryckande konst – ­Expressive arts – i huvudsak. Utöver det används tidigare forskning gällande KASAM (känsla av sammanhang), utvecklingspsykologisk och psykoterapeutisk forskning, samt forskning om lek och lekens betydelse.  Studien visar i ett övergripande perspektiv att deltagarna i skaparkväll har upplevt något som för dem är meningsfullt och att denna upplevelse är kopplad både till det egna skapandet samt mötet med andra deltagare. De positiva upplevelserna rör bland annat det faktum att deltagarna fått uppleva känslor av befrielse och överraskning. De har dessutom mött utmaningar av större eller mindre grad och funnit dessa i huvudsak stimulerande. En viktig aspekt som möjliggjort dessa upplevelser är den struktur som genomsyrat både förhållningssätt och andra ramar för verksamheten. / This study is about the possibilities of art in interpersonal meetings, based on the experiences from an open activity called "Skapar kväll", witch is run by the Swedish Church in a small town in the middle of Sweden. Thru qualitative interviews, the study aims to reach a deeper understanding of some participants' personal experiences of the activity. The interviews are construed through a theoretical frame with a hermeneutic approach. In that way the understanding increases, both in terms of the personal experiences as well as for the activity in general. The theoretical framework is based on the tradition of Expressive arts, together with applicable theories from SOC, psychology as well as psychotherapy. In addition to that, the theoretical frame also contains theories of play. The study shows in a broad perspective that the participants in this activity, "Skaparkväll", have experienced something that is meaningful and that this experience is linked both to the personal creativity as well as interacting with other participants. The positive experiences are related to, among other things, the fact that participants have experienced feelings of relief and surprise. They have also encountered challenges of greater or lesser degree, and found them essentially stimulating. One important aspect of the enabling of these experiences is the structure that permeated both attitudes and the frameworks in "Skaparkväll".

The performer's conceptualisation and perception of herself is projected through the acoustic voice and impacts upon vocal delivery in rehearsal and performance. However, in the context of performer voice training in Western theatre practice the performer's sense of self, or identity, is seldom the focus of development. Vocal development is inherently a transformational process that requires the performer to expand beyond what has become habitual selfexpression. Since vocal expression is embedded in identity, an attempt to change the voice necessitates a deeper understanding, questioning, and challenging of the performer's established sense of self. In this dissertation I posit that acoustic vocal development can be successfully achieved through an embodied and imaginative approach that investigates the performer's metaphorical voice through learning opportunities provided by a process that integrates the practices of Voice Movement Therapy (VMT) and maskwork. This dissertation presents art-based autoethnographic research into the potential value of such an integrated approach to performer vocal development. The VMT maskwork approach is fundamentally an embodied and envoiced process that provides a vastly different and heightened experience of the bodymind and invites the performer to play in the liminal realm of active imagination, which is triggered by the mask-image. The dissertation investigates the vocal development benefits of using self-made masks as a psychophysical training tool to expand the performer's understanding and experience of the bodymind. The area of archetypes and subpersonalities has been identified as a primary intersection between the two modalities and three ways of working are proposed, either taking impulses from the image (mask-image and/or imagination), the body and its movement, or the voice. These three ways of working trigger the bodymind into a process of active imagination that evokes a creative and integrated mask-voice-body exploration of archetypes and/or subpersonalities. The process gives permission to, and provides a safe container for, the amplified expression of the extremes of self and voice. This dissertation offers a tri-phase VMT maskwork process structure, and highlights key steps for the VMT practitioner-led facilitation of such a process. It positions the mask as a useful transitional object which encourages reengagement with imagination, body, voice and emotion, and thus encourages an on-going and multi-layered reflection and investigation of self and voice is possible. The research showed that the integrated approach of VMT maskwork resulted in vocal expansion in all 10 of the VMT 10 vocal components; pitch, pitch fluctuation, loudness, glottal engagement, free air, disruption, violin, register, timbre and articulation. Apart from acoustic vocal expansion, the approach fostered expansion in the performer's metaphorical voice and resulted in improved grounding and confidence in performance. These conclusions support the research statement that VMT maskwork may be a valuable approach to vocal development in the context of theatre performer voice training. As researcher practitioner I hold that the embodied learning process of VMT maskwork exposes the performer to a vastly different experience of self, which fosters a process of self-reflexivity leading to personal meaning making, self-knowledge, the challenging of vocal habits, and ultimately, vocal transformation. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Drama / MA / Unrestricted

The researcher set out to investigate the effectiveness of a specific phototherapy intervention on counselor-in-training’s empathy, self-awareness, and self-disclosure development through participation in a personal growth group using Davis’ (1980) Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) Govern and Marsch’s (2001) Situational Self-Awareness Scale, and behavioral observations. The study also explored the relationship between the three factors. The study looked to see if there was a difference in the change over time between the group receiving the phototherapy intervention and those participants who did not receive the intervention. The data was collected and measured through a (a) repeated measures MANOVA, (b) independent samples t-test, and (c) Pearson product correlation. The study used 41 participants who were currently enrolled in a group counseling course at a CACREP-accredited master’s program in the Southeast. The students were either on a marriage and family, mental health, or school track. Both the treatment and the comparison group consisted of four groups and met weekly for a total of 10 meetings. Each group used a manualized treatment developed by the researcher with the treatment group incorporating the use of images. The findings showed that the phototherapy intervention did not have a significant impact on affective empathy or selfawareness when compared to the comparison group. Cognitive empathy showed a significant difference between the two groups over the course of the study. There was no difference between the observations of self-disclosure for the treatment and comparison groups, and the factors of empathy, self-awareness, and self-disclosure were not correlated. The results did show a significant change for both groups when looking at self-awareness. As a whole the study iv attempted to fill a gap in the literature surrounding how the factors of empathy, self-awareness, and self-disclosure are taught in counselor training programs and proposed next steps for future studies.

Preadolescence is a transitional stage between childhood and adolescence characterized by rapid and erratic change. Preadolescent girls are particularly vulnerable to negative impacts to self-concept and adaptability and may benefit from support to strengthen these key aspects of their development. School-based expressive arts groups provide a developmentally appropriate opportunity for preadolescent girls to process their thoughts, feelings, and experiences that can influence their self-concept and adaptability. Additionally, providing expressive arts groups from a career perspective provides participants a three-fold developmental intervention that includes components of the personal/social, academic, and career domains. Lindo and Ceballos combined the Career Construction Interview (CCI) with expressive arts school-based group counseling to create a developmentally appropriate intervention called the Child and Adolescent Career Construction Interview (CACCI). This study examined preadolescent girls' perceptions of participated in a CACCI group. Analysis of data yielded four major themes: (a) experiencing, (b) connecting, (c) expressing, and (d) becoming. Finding of this study have the potential to inform developmentally appropriate career counseling for preadolescents.

No description available.