This research project aims to explore how art therapists use textiles in clinical practice and personal artmaking and to learn about the perceived benefits and challenges of this type of work. The study utilizes a Qualtrics survey, with 70 participants, and a focus group methodology, with 4 art therapists. Through the analysis of the participants’ conversations, artwork, and survey information, emergent themes were identified related to examining biases of gender identity, challenges related to considerations of time, the repetitive and slow nature that are particular mindful qualities of textile making, potentially heightened benefits of textile work with children and adolescents, and a call to reexamine boundaries of technique with the inclusion of unstructured textile exploration. Art therapists described benefits for clients particularly related to trauma work, grounding, and sense of mastery. These themes emphasized findings that illuminate the value of working with textiles in personal artmaking and in art therapeutic environments.

This paper uses a qualitative approach to explore quantitative assessment tools and their use in art therapy research with patients with cancer. An archival method was used to gather articles on cancer research which were compiled from peer-reviewed journal articles available online. The author used a systematic analysis to select articles that met the specific research criteria of working with cancer patients in a medical setting, included the implementation of art therapy, and the administration of a pre- and post-test. Twenty-two quantitative assessments fit these criteria. Further exploration was conducted on the five most common assessment tools. These five assessments were further analyzed for emergent themes and characteristics. These common traits were that all of the assessments were self-report questionnaires, four out of five were Likert scales, the assessments were chosen for their accessibility, and many of the research studies were not accessible to a diverse population. It was concluded that these quantitative assessment tools are helpful in art therapy as they contribute towards creating quantifiable results in the research. It may be useful to implement these assessment tools in further art therapy research with cancer patients in order for art therapy to be more frequently employed in medical settings.

Patients who have/had cancer are often left with emotional distress, as well as, anxiety, and depression amongst other effects. Art therapy based curriculums have been utilized with patients that have/had cancer with promising results of decreasing emotional distress and other effects. Five different art therapy based curriculums are explored through archival research approach. Through this approach, information is collected to explore five research questions that are presented to understand how these art therapy-based curriculums can help patients who have/had cancer. These research questions explore the type of interventions being utilized in the curriculum when the curriculum is being implemented in the patient’s treatment, what the demographics are for the curriculums that are being used, the structure of the workshops where these curriculums are taking place and what the impact was of the curriculums. The significant finding was that interventions such as mindfulness, relaxation activities and reflection on self decreased emotional distress. A more extensive selection of curriculums would have been beneficial in finding more themes and provide evidence that art therapy based curriculums can help the patient that has/had cancer.

This document reviews qualitative assessments used to explore the impact on art therapy interventions with patients in cancer treatment. The study explored the use of qualitative assessment in evaluating patient perspective on receiving art therapy adjunctly with cancer treatment. In addition, the research aimed to determine if art therapy interventions are perceived as effective in helping cancer patients reduce stress, cope, improve quality of life, express emotions, and reduce cancer-related symptoms during and after cancer treatment through qualitative assessment. Approximately 300 cancer patient experiences were reviewed through surveying qualitative studies that explored the effects of art making in cancer treatment through qualitative assessment such as interviews, questionnaires, observations, and open-ended questions. This archival research used a thematic approach to identify emergent themes in format, administration techniques, and impact in qualitative assessments to learn about the patient art therapy experience. The emergent themes were discovered while surveying information regarding types of formats and administration procedures used in qualitative cancer research. These findings suggest that qualitative assessments used in art therapy programs are a useful tool to determine how art interventions may help address patient's psychosocial needs, provide coping skills, and relieve cancer–related symptoms.

Empathy within law enforcement has not been examined in the art therapy literature. This qualitative study provides insight into how empathy is perceived and experienced by retired law enforcement officers in San Diego, CA. Fourteen participants responded to a brief questionnaire, created an art piece and a written response about how empathy is experienced within law enforcement. The results illuminated common themes within the art and written responses including interactions, witnessing of a traumatic situation, intersection of roles within law enforcement, understanding of feelings, and communication. Future research in this area is recommended to also include current officers as well as retired law enforcement officers in order to attain a broader scope of data.

This research adopts a heuristic method of inquiry to explore the intersections of social justice theory, cultural humility, and community art therapy to strengthen both the internal awareness and art therapy practices of the researcher. Data was collected over a structured eight-week period through art-making and reflective writing. Six core themes were extrapolated from the data, which were then applied to the researcher’s experience with a community-based art therapy engagement. Through this process of investigating authentic self-reflection and deep consideration for community-based applications, the researcher illuminated personal biases, beliefs, and assumptions to better understand personal and societal implications of the adoption of a more culturally humble art therapy practice.

This qualitative research study used art to illuminate the experiences of therapists who work and diagnose children who have experienced trauma. Previous literature informed the current study by exploring the history of trauma-related diagnoses in the DSM (Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), literature related to complex trauma and developmental trauma, and the art therapy research related to treating and diagnosing trauma. This study used interview methodology to acquire firsthand accounts of therapists currently working with and diagnosing children who have experienced trauma, and were asked to create art to help illustrate their experiences. Analyzing the participants artwork and interview transcriptions allowed for four themes to emerge: Child’s perspective, Therapist’s perspective, Caregiver’s perspective, and Administrative Process. Further investigation into these themes revealed several findings: the limitations of the administrative process, developmental inconsistency, and the lack of a developmental understanding of death related to the DSM-5 criteria. This research also suggests that art can be used as a tool to help access the child’s perspective, and provide the therapist with a more comprehensive understanding of the child’s world.

Five graduate students from the Marital and Family Art Therapy Program at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) conducted a research study to explore the characteristics and attributes of collective art practices and how they contribute to healing. A survey including quantitative measures and qualitative responses were administered on the Qualtrics platform, allowing for a wide geographic reach and rapid data collection. The subsequent qualitative analysis involved the creation of visual artworks by the researchers, utilizing the arts as data to identify additional common themes contributing to healing attributes. The data revealed three major themes, or characteristics, of how art contributes to healing: (1) shared collective experience, (2) validation and space for emotional expression, and (3) art as a conduit of healing. These three themes were recurrent throughout the responses and emerged from participants' responses to three specific questions, driven by a curiosity about the attributes and experiences involving art and community. The results gathered not only provided parallel alignment with significant deviation from those gathered during the literature review, but also shed light on the profound impact of creative expression in fostering well-being, cultivating interpersonal connections, and promoting emotional healing within collective settings. This insight offers valuable guidance for future researchers and art therapists, emphasizing the importance of incorporating collective healing elements into their practice and theoretical frameworks.

The experimenter's purpose was to assess whether short-term yoga training could improve overall well-being in female college students. There were two parts to the study. The first part included 98 participants, who took three questionnaires measuring anxiety, depression, and subjective well-being. The measures used were, the State Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, and an original Subjective Sense of Well-being questionnaire. The experimenter wanted to see if there was a difference in perceived anxiety, depression, and health-related quality of life between males and females. There were 53 females and 45 males. In an Independent ttest, the results indicated that females differed significantly in anxiety, depression, and health-related quality of life measures. When compared to males, the females had more negative perceptions of their anxiety, depression, and well-being. In the second part of the study, eight participants, who were students at University of Central Florida, volunteered to attend eight yoga sessions, each an hour long. Since four of the participants attended only one session, the experimenter compared these (Low Attendance) to the four participants who attended all of the yoga sessions (High Attendance) over a period of four weeks (2 yoga sessions per week). Results were analyzed using a 2X2 mixed ANOV A. Results failed to demonstrate significant main effects for Pre-Post for any of the 3 dependent measures. Main effects for participation (High vs. Low) were not significant for anxiety or depression, but did reveal significantly higher subjective well-being for the High participants group. No interaction effects were significant.

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