Expressive Arts Therapy as a Coping Strategy in Caregivers
Disciplines
Art Practice | Social and Behavioral Sciences
Abstract (300 words maximum)
Expressive Arts Therapy has been defined as a multimodal approach to therapy similar to its cousins drama therapy and music therapy. Expressive arts therapy may incorporate writing, drama, dance, movement, painting, and/or music. This study aims to determine if caregivers perceive Expressive Arts Therapy as beneficial to cope with and reduce their feelings of anticipatory grief and their willingness to use it. Grief has been known to typically follow a pathway involving Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’s stages of grief. However, there are challenges that are particular to the process surrounding ambiguous grief. Caregiver’s in particular know this feeling very well. However, little to no research has been done in looking at how these caregivers are able to cope with their ambiguous and anticipatory grief. It has been stated that Expressive Arts Therapy is an effective method for bereaved children and others who are struggling with the grieving process, but there has been little research that studies if this form of therapy can be beneficial to caregivers, in particular. This study includes a questionnaire for caregivers and will be advertised through a flier that will be distributed on social media as well as to hospice offices. Participants will receive a link or QR code to the survey. The survey takes about 10-15 minutes to complete. Upon completion the data will be analyzed. Findings will include current coping strategies of these caregivers as well as if they would consider use of Expressive Arts Therapy to aid in their coping. Raw data will be downloaded from Qualtrics and coded in Excel. Data will then be transferred into SPSS for descriptive data and correlational data to be derived. We can expect that the results of this study will include caregivers considering use of Expressive Arts Therapy in their coping.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
RCHSS - Psychological Science
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Anisah Bagasra
Expressive Arts Therapy as a Coping Strategy in Caregivers
Expressive Arts Therapy has been defined as a multimodal approach to therapy similar to its cousins drama therapy and music therapy. Expressive arts therapy may incorporate writing, drama, dance, movement, painting, and/or music. This study aims to determine if caregivers perceive Expressive Arts Therapy as beneficial to cope with and reduce their feelings of anticipatory grief and their willingness to use it. Grief has been known to typically follow a pathway involving Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’s stages of grief. However, there are challenges that are particular to the process surrounding ambiguous grief. Caregiver’s in particular know this feeling very well. However, little to no research has been done in looking at how these caregivers are able to cope with their ambiguous and anticipatory grief. It has been stated that Expressive Arts Therapy is an effective method for bereaved children and others who are struggling with the grieving process, but there has been little research that studies if this form of therapy can be beneficial to caregivers, in particular. This study includes a questionnaire for caregivers and will be advertised through a flier that will be distributed on social media as well as to hospice offices. Participants will receive a link or QR code to the survey. The survey takes about 10-15 minutes to complete. Upon completion the data will be analyzed. Findings will include current coping strategies of these caregivers as well as if they would consider use of Expressive Arts Therapy to aid in their coping. Raw data will be downloaded from Qualtrics and coded in Excel. Data will then be transferred into SPSS for descriptive data and correlational data to be derived. We can expect that the results of this study will include caregivers considering use of Expressive Arts Therapy in their coping.