<p> The purpose of this project is to identify a potential funding source and write a grant to provide art classes and art exhibits in Orange County, California to decrease mental health issues among older adults and to reduce mental health stigma. A comprehensive literature review found that art related activities are an effective way to reduce mental health issues among older adults. The search conducted identified a potential funding source to support the need for culturally competent art based mental health services. Mental health stigma results in numerous challenges for those with mental illness, their families, and the community. Art activities are low-cost, help decrease levels of stress, build self-esteem, and promote community involvement. If funded, this program could help older adults engage in the art related activities to improve their mental and physical health.</p>

<p> The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the benefits of art as a therapeutic modality for identifying stress in Gulf War to active duty veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD). This is a mixed methodology study. The case and control sampling approach was a systematic random sample with a paired treatment control design. The questions where chosen to the specificity of the Gulf War veteran. The qualitative data was scrutinized using a mixed methods design utilizing the tool known as the 17 Point Questionnaire. The quantitative data was obtained using the tool known as the PSS 14 Stress Scale. Both qualitative data and quantitative data were tested for validity and reliability using various tools including Spearman&rsquo;s Rho, or (Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient), Cluster Analysis, Pearson&rsquo;s Coefficient, Dendorgrams, paired and independent T-tests, and summary statistics to determine data. Convergent validity was evaluated by comparing positive and negative PSS-14 factors and by examining relationships with the number of actual to perceived benefits of stress reduction using Likert Scale results over thirty days between two Gulf War veteran groups identified with PTSD. Findings have shown a significant reductions in stress in the treatment group. Findings have also shown significant correlations between the studies perceived benefits for specific modalities and the use of ceramic or clay work as a preferred method of choice were also identified within the research. Due to the ability of art to reduce stress in Gulf War victims suffering from PTSD, longitudinal studies have been recommended to provide art treatment therapies with conclusive evidence based research status. With this change in status it is anticipated that art therapy will have greater accessibility within the Veterans Administration (VA) system for those seeking alternative methods of treatment.</p>

The aim of this study was to investigate the connection between an artists mental illness and his or her art and this was made with the artist Mathilde Wigert-Österlund (1873-1943) as an example. Wigert-Österlund was an artist who suffered from mental illness and was a patient at a mental institution during two periods throughout her life. After she became ill, she made textile artworks that have been considered to be products of her illness. To investigate if this is true or not and to understand Wigert-Österlunds means of expression, the study was based on the purpose that with Wigert-Österlund as example investigate the connection between mental illness and creative production and study the artist and the artists role as a social and cultural construction. This was done with the following questions: How did Mathilde Wigert-Österlunds artistic expression change when she became ill? What role did Wigert-Österlund take och recieve in the artistic field? And; what resemblances and differences were there between Wigert-Österlunds artworks and her contemporary textile art? The questions were answered with studies of literature and objects as material, together with a method of material culture. Theory of practice and a theory of the artist role were applied on the material and the results. The analysis shows that Wigert-Österlunds artistic expression primarily changed with her use of other techniques and materials than before and secondarily that she had a slight change in the choice of motif and especially symbols in her work. The works shows that Wigert-Österlund is to be considered as having the role of a melancholic artist due to the theory of the artists role. Her work had no distinct recemblances with the contemporary textile art but shows that she is considered to share habitus and expression with the artist group that were defined as painters. Wigert-Österlund and her textile artcan be considered as unique in the time they were made. The study also reveals that the groups within the field were changeable and that Wigert-Österlund and her variated expression made her belong to separate groups but that she might have identified herself with the one with highest social and cultural status. The study showed that there is a slight connection between mental illness and an artists expression and that an artist can correlate to an artistic role and at the same time be a production of and a construction of the society and its expectations connected to that construction.