Impact of integrative model of expressive art therapies on mental health of children with cancer
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Date
2016
Authors
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Publisher
University of Management and Technology Lahore
Abstract
Interminable sicknesses are conditions which require utilizing psychological instruments for curing. A standout amongst the most undermined and deadly ailment is Cancer. For children this journey is even more difficult as they find it hard to verbalize their emotions. Art is of imperative significance to children as it is one route in which a little child can associate with, and comprehend her/his environment. Through arts, children get a medium to express their inner pent up feelings and emotions and therefore it helps to restore their mental health which gets deteriorated as a result of cancer treatment. The present study aims to explore the impact of expressive art therapies on the mental health problems of children with cancer and to examine the impact of expressive art therapies on the positive and negative self image of children diagnosed with cancer. It was hypothesized that: 1) Integrative model of expressive art therapies is likely to have a significant impact on mental health problems of children with cancer; 2) Integrative model of expressive art therapies is likely to significantly improve positive self image of children diagnosed with cancer and 3) Integrative model of expressive art therapies is likely to significantly reduce negative self image of children diagnosed with children. It was an intervention based within subjects’ experimental research design with a series of pretest and post test measures. A sample of N=14(46.6%) participants completed all the three phases of the study. All participants were taken from an Inpatient oncology setup of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre, Lahore. Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale was used for the measurement of mental health problems. This scale was already translated in an Urdu language and was freely available on web for use with the proper acknowledgement of its source, which was done in the present study. Along with it to assess the self image, person part of House Tree Person was used and was interpreted in terms of positive and negative symptoms using HTP booklet. Both the assessments were administered before and after each session. The obtained data was statistically analyzed using inferential and descriptive statistics. Repeated measure ANNOVA was applied and it was found that the two months intervention program of integrative model of expressive art therapy had statistically significant effect on mental health problems of children with cancer. It was also found that integrative model of expressive art therapy had statistically significant impact on positive self image and negative self image of children with cancer. Positive self image increased and negative self image decreased at the end of the intervention. Results indicate that integrative model of expressive art therapies is an effective mode of unconventional form of treatment to restore mental health problems and self image deteriorated as a result of cancer treatment.
Description
Supervised by: Dr. Farzana Ashraf
Keywords
Expressive art therapies, Mental health problems, M.Phil Thesis