Abstract / Description of output
Background: Visual art therapy has been widely used with children with medical health conditions within various settings. However, less is known about its effectiveness. The scope of this systematic review is to shed light on what benefit art therapy may have for ill health adjustment in youth populations.
Methods: Electronic databases (Psychinfo, Medline, CINAHL, ERIC, Scopus, Embase, and Child and Adolescent Studies) were searched (1806-2017). Systematic methods for study selection and data extraction were used.
Results: Twelve studies (N = 404 participants, 318 in the control group; aged between 2 and 19 years old, with various medical conditions) were included. Ten studies reported significant improvements concerning at least one outcome with an overall inconclusive trend towards effectiveness.
Conclusions: Visual art therapy interventions were found weak in evidence quality. However, future evidence based research designs could show the effectiveness of these interventions in health care settings.
Methods: Electronic databases (Psychinfo, Medline, CINAHL, ERIC, Scopus, Embase, and Child and Adolescent Studies) were searched (1806-2017). Systematic methods for study selection and data extraction were used.
Results: Twelve studies (N = 404 participants, 318 in the control group; aged between 2 and 19 years old, with various medical conditions) were included. Ten studies reported significant improvements concerning at least one outcome with an overall inconclusive trend towards effectiveness.
Conclusions: Visual art therapy interventions were found weak in evidence quality. However, future evidence based research designs could show the effectiveness of these interventions in health care settings.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 183-201 |
| Journal | Arts and Health: An International Journal for Research, Policy and Practice |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | 5 Mar 2018 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 6 Mar 2018 |
Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)
- art therapy
- chronic illness
- adolescents
- children
- paediatric