The purpose of this study is to verify the effects of integrated group art therapy on depression, self-esteem and self-reference of female domestic violence victims. The integrated group art therapy(IGAT) is a group art therapy which integrates psycho...
The purpose of this study is to verify the effects of integrated group art therapy on depression, self-esteem and self-reference of female domestic violence victims. The integrated group art therapy(IGAT) is a group art therapy which integrates psycho-dynamic therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy.
Specified study aims of this study are as follows : 1) What were the effects of IGAT on depression of female domestic violence victims? 2) What were the effects of IGAT on self-esteem of female domestic violence victims? 3) What were the effects of IGAT on self-reference of female domestic violence victims? 4) What were the effects of IGAT in terms of personal change of female domestic violence victims?
The subjects are 20 female domestic violence victims who were cared in shelter located in a Kyoungki Province. 10 subjects were randomly alloted in experimental group and 10 subjects were randomly alloted in controlled group. The experimental group received IGAT(Integrated Group Art Therapy) of 15sessions carried out for 2 hours, twice a week. The controlled group didn't receive any treatment.
All subjects of each group completed BDI(Beck Depression Inventory) and SEI(Self-Esteem Inventory) before IGAT and after IGAT. The scores of each test were calculated and they were verified by two way ANOVA. The experimental group also completed K-HTP(Kinetic-House Tree Person) before IGAT and after IGAT. Two sets of the drawings were qualitatively compared for each member of experimental group.
All expressions of experimental group members during 15 sessions were recoded and transcribed, which were analyzed for each person according to Jung, Bang-Ja's Self-reference Category System.
The results of this study are as follows : 1) IGAT decreased whole depression and each of 4 sub-categories of depression. 2) IGAT increased whole self-esteem and each of 3 sub-categories of self-respect. 3) Negative self-reference in the begging stage were changed to positive ones. Positive self-reference increased remarkably in the middle stage and negative ones decreased in the final stage. 4) All members of experimental group showed statistically significant positive change in all 3 dimensions of depression, self-esteem and self-reference. They also showed qualitatively positive change in comparison of pre- and post K-HTP.
This study verified that IGAT are effective in decreasing depression, increasing self-esteem and positively changing self-reference of female domestic violence victims.
Suggestions for further study are as follows : 1) 'Integrated art therapy' of this study is a mixed art therapy which applies both psycho-dynamic therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy. As such therapies are rare, this writer couldn't compare with other studies. More integrated therapies which integrate various theories and strategies in consideration of important variables of treatment programs and subjects should be developed and tested. 2) In spite of the subjects' unique situation in 'shelter', further treatment and evaluation needs to be implemented in order to gain more meaningful results. 3) Even though 3 evaluators' analysis of the subjects' expressions showed relatively high correlation (.72~.88), results with higher validity could be gained, if evaluators would discuss their categories and agree to final outputs of analysis.