An Exploratory Study of Art Therapy Intervention in the Primary School: Perspectives of Children and Art
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An Exploratory Study of Art Therapy Intervention in the Primary School: Perspectives of Children and Art Therapists by Doreen Roslyn Robinson This thesis is submitted to Cardiff University For the Degree of Doctorate in Educational Psychology January 2020 Dedication For my daughter and her optimistic nature, her encouragement and support has provided me with the sustenance needed to maintain effort and persevere, particularly at those times when I needed to remember that this was the next stage in my journey. Thank you for your listening ear. iii Acknowledgements Firstly I would like to express my thanks to the children and the art therapists who participated in this research, it was my pleasure meeting with you and getting to know you during this study. In addition thank you to the headteachers, staff and parents of the schools for their willingness to support this exploratory study. I would also like to express my sincere thanks to Dale Bartle and Andrea Higgins who provided support and encouragement during the process of this research. Last but not least thank you to my partner for your patience throughout this study and accepting that when it is finally completed we will return to having a more fulfilling social life. iv Abstract An exploratory study was carried out to elicit the views of primary school children from the ages of eight to ten years. The aim of the study was to learn what the children thought about art therapy intervention in the school setting and to obtain their perspectives about any skills they learned and continue to use after attending art therapy. Promoting children’s mental health has become increasingly in focus and ma ny schools have employed art therapists to support children to help maintain their mental health wellbeing. The method used to gather the data for the research was semi-structured interviews with ten children. During the interview, the children used the “d raw write and tell” approach to support their recall. Three art therapists participated in a focus group and provided another perspective about the children’s views. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse the data from both the therapists and the children. Overall the findings of the study revealed that the children enjoyed therapy sessions and developed skills that they had utilised after they attended therapy. The therapists indicated that they valued working in the school environment because it was an enjoyable experience and there were advantages to working in the school setting such as the opportunity to communicate with school staff as well as link with parents. There were some constraints connected with art therapy sessions in the school setting which included sharing resources and waiting list of children that required art therapy intervention. The outcome from the study indicated that there were areas that may benefit from further exploration which may have implications for EP practice. These include carrying out research into innovative approaches for supporting children to make informed decisions as specified in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), Article 13 (1989). In addition, the perceived reduction of art in the curriculum and its impact on children’s mental health and wellbeing which links to UNCRC Article 31. v List of Abbreviations AATA American Art Therapy Assoc iation AI Appreciative Inquiry BAAT British Association of Art Therapy BPS British Psychological Society CATA Canadian Art Therapy Association DfE Department for Education DECP Division of Educational and Child Psychology DOH Department of Health EP Educational Psychologist IPA Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis NHS National Health Service PHE Public Health England SENCo Special Needs Coordinator TA Thematic A nalysis UK United Kingdom UKCCIS United Kingdom Council for Child Internet Safety UNCRC United Nations Convention on the Rights of the C hild vi Contents Chapter 1 ................................................................................................ ........................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................ ...................... 1 Background ................................................................................................ ........................ 1 1.2 An Outline of the study ................................................................ ............................... 2 1.3 Promoting Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing in England ................................ .. 2 1.4 What is Mental Health? ................................................................ ............................... 4 1.5 Definitions of Wellbeing ................................................................ .............................. 4 1.6 Concern about Mental Health and Wellbeing ................................ ............................. 7 1.7 What is Resilience? ................................................................................................ ...... 9 1.8 Risk Factors and Protective Factors ........................................................................... 11 1.10 The role of the school in providing interventions .................................................... 14 1.11 School-based interventions ..................................................................................... 14 1.12 Targeted Interventions ............................................................................................ 16 1.13 A Sense of Belonging ............................................................................................... 16 1.14 School-based counselling ......................................................................................... 19 1.15 T he Relevance of Children and Young people’s Mental Health and Wellbeing to ... 19 Educational Psychologists ................................................................................................ 19 1.16 Outline of the Thesis ................................................................................................ 20 Chapter 2 ......................................................................................................................... 22 Literature Review ............................................................................................................ 22 2.1 Introduction to Literature Review ............................................................................. 22 2.2 Key Sources ................................................................................................................ 23 2.3 Definitions of Art Therapy ......................................................................................... 25 2.4 A Brief History of Art Therapy .................................................................................... 27 2.5 The Psychological Aspects of Art Therapy ................................................................. 28 2.6 Art Therapy with Children ......................................................................................... 29 2.7 Review of Studies about the Effectiveness of Art Therapy ........................................ 30 2.8 Review of Studies that Include Art Therapy with Adults ........................................... 32 2.9 Review of Studies that Include Art Therapy in the Treatment of Health-Related Conditions with Children ................................................................................................. 34 2.10 Review of Studies about Art Therapy in the Primary School Setting ....................... 37 2.11 Early Art Therapy Studies in the School ................................................................... 37 vii 2.12 Art Therapy for Children with Learning and Social-Emotional needs ...................... 39 2.13 Art Therapy for Children with Social, Emotional and Mental Health Concern ......... 40 2.14 Art Therapy Studies in the UK .................................................................................. 41 2.15 Summary ................................................................................................................. 43 2.16 Importance of Children’s Views ............................................................................... 44 2.16.1 The Voice of the Child in Art Therapy ................................................................... 47 2.17 Art Therapists’ Perspectives about Art Therapy in Schools ..................................... 48 2.18 EPs and the Voice of the Child ................................................................................. 51 2.19 Reasons for Research with Primary School Children ............................................... 52 2.19 Aims and Research Questions .................................................................................. 53 2.20 Research Questions: Child Participants ................................................................... 53 2.21 Research Questions: Art Therapists ......................................................................... 53 Chapter 3 ......................................................................................................................... 55 Methodology ................................................................................................................... 55 3.1 Introduction to the methodology .............................................................................. 55 3.1.1 Ontology and Epistemology ...................................................................................