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The Effects of Group Art Therapy on Reducing Psychological Stress and Improving the Quality of Life in Iranian Child Immigrants and Refugees

Title:

The Effects of Group Art Therapy on Reducing Psychological Stress and Improving the Quality of Life in Iranian Child Immigrants and Refugees

Gerami, Maryam ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6494-5359 (2021) The Effects of Group Art Therapy on Reducing Psychological Stress and Improving the Quality of Life in Iranian Child Immigrants and Refugees. Canadian Journal of Art Therapy, 34 (1). pp. 8-17. ISSN 2690-7240

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/26907240.2021.1883856

Abstract

This study examines the effects of group art therapy on reducing psychological stress and improving the quality of life in Iranian child immigrants and refugees in order to bring cost-effective and accessible solutions to vulnerable communities. A quantitative study was conducted in an Iranian school in Montreal with 10 Iranian immigrant children aged 8 to 12 with no mental health diagnosis reported. Psychological stress of participants and their quality of life were assessed by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Symptom Checklist–90–Revised questionnaires (SCL-90-R), the Revidierter Kinder Lebensqualitätsfragebogen questionnaire (KINDL- R) and measure of the cortisol level in their saliva samples, before the intervention, after 10 weeks of group art therapy, and at the four-week follow-up. The paired t-tests showed a significant difference in the scores for PSS, SCL-90-R, and KINDL-R before the beginning and after the end of 10 art therapy sessions. In addition, the pair t-tests showed that the reduction in the stress level remained statistically significant even after four weeks of finishing the art therapy intervention. Although cortisol levels did not decrease during the last session, they were significantly lower in comparison to those before the start of the intervention.

Divisions:Concordia University > Faculty of Fine Arts > Creative Arts Therapies
Item Type:Article
Refereed:Yes
Authors:Gerami, Maryam
Journal or Publication:Canadian Journal of Art Therapy
Date:2021
Funders:
  • Concordia University, Faculty of Fine Arts and PERFORM Centre Student Award in Preventive Health, Research, Montreal, Canada
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):10.1080/26907240.2021.1883856
Keywords:stress, group art therapy, prevention, Iranian children, immigrants, quality of life, refugees.
ID Code:991304
Deposited By: John Latour
Deposited On:21 Nov 2022 16:41
Last Modified:21 Nov 2022 16:41
Related URLs:
Additional Information:Data not available due to [ethical/legal/commercial] restrictions.

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