Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Psychotherapeutic interventions have been used to support people with cancer for more than half a century, with continuing debate as to whether there is any impact on the disease process itself. Very few of those studies have assessed physiological impact, and although art psychotherapyi has been employed to assess and enhance change in quality of life, reduction in distress and increased treatment compliance amongst adults and children with cancer, in the main these studies have been qualitative. To date few studies have been published reporting the use of art psychotherapy in the exploration of the human being from a systems perspective, using both biological and psychosocial means of assessment of efficacy, and at the time of research, none reporting immunological changes. The advantage of art psychotherapy over purely verbal psychotherapy is in the readily accessed unconscious content, and that a relaxed meditative state is entered in making images: it gives the body voice while creating a concrete record of the process. This study, therefore, addresses a gap in both psychoneuroimmunological and psycho-oncology research. The objective was to assess if engaging in group art psychotherapy would have a positive effect on general quality of life with a reduction of ‘stress’ and if this would be reflected in immunological, psychosocial, image and narrative data. The specific parameters under investigation were salivary immunoglobulin isotype A (S-IgA), salivary interferon gamma (SIFN- γ), delayed type hypersensitivity test response, psychosocial questionnaire results, images created during art psychotherapy and the narrative of that group process. The study utilised a mixed methods approach. The quantitative arm of the study was framed within the positivist paradigm required for the assessment of discrete physiological and psychosocial parameters, while the qualitative arm of the study was framed in the interpretive paradigm suited to the investigation of subjective experience. The dominant philosophy informing the methodology for the qualitative work was hermeneutic phenomenology. Analysis of salivary immunoglobulin alpha (S-IgA) results indicated that there was a general upwards trend in the group mean post-vs-pre-session levels, positively correlating to sessional emotional tone. The salivary interferon gamma (S-IFN-γ) results showed no such increase, although there was a correlation to emotional content in individual sessions and an overall upward trend. There was an observable lessening of anxiety and improvement in interpersonal dynamics and participants’ self report over time, not reflected in the psychosocial questionnaire results. The study suggested that involvement in art psychotherapy does have a positive impact on immunological function, and has contributed to the understanding of a systems approach to healing, which may broaden understanding of the value of psychological support to people with cancer. This may be extrapolated to other chronic illnesses where immunological function must be optimised. The study has also demonstrated that it is possible to involve art psychotherapy in the scientific dialogue, without losing its integrity.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/222108 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Virago, Marie-Christina Elizabeth |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright 2008 Marie-Christina Elizabeth Virago |
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