The purpose of this study is to examine changes in the sentiments and behavior of married immigrant women found out in the course of the group art therapy and to examine how the adaptation to culture is represented in the course of art therapy to help...
The purpose of this study is to examine changes in the sentiments and behavior of married immigrant women found out in the course of the group art therapy and to examine how the adaptation to culture is represented in the course of art therapy to help married immigrant women adapt themselves to the realities of life.
The number of immigrant women married to Korean men in this multiracial and multicultural age has been sharply rising and divorce rates are also gradually increasing. Immigrant women, who are facing the crisis of divorce due to the problems such as discrepancy of information about the spouse, fraudulent marriage or family violence, gather together in Swimteo Refugee and are receiving protection and medical treatment.
Immigrant women are suffering from mental conflict and homesickness caused by disappointment with the spouse, the sense of depravity in realities. They are living an unsociable life amid social prejudice and having hard time in adapting themselves to realities with the sense of negation and failure and are suffering from physical and mental pains. In order for our society to achieve proper establishment of multiracial and multicultural society, we should make efforts to have interest in immigrant women’s psychosocial problems and to have continuous understanding and accommodation of heterogeneous factors so that immigrant women can properly and safely adapt themselves to new culture. So this study applied the group art therapy to the immigrant women who were having such difficulties to examine whether the group art therapy is helpful.
The participants of this study were composed of 4 immigrant women who were relatively under little time constraints and able to communicate in the language and want to receive the group art therapy among the married immigrant women in H Immigrant Women Refuge Swimteo, which is the supporting center for the victims of family violence, located in Incheon-si.
The therapy was conducted once a week, totaling 22 times from September 2008 to February 2009
Changes in sentiments and behavior, and changes in adapting themselves to culture, of immigrant women shown in the course of the group art therapy based on the interviews with the counselor and the director of the organization, session records, and photos of works were analyzed qualitatively.
The results obtained through this case study are as follows.
First, there occurred positive changes in the sentiments and behavior of immigrant women in the course of the group art therapy.
Immigrant women living in Swimteo Refuge, who missed their native country expressing depressed feeling caused by being estranged from realities and hurt feeling and anger for their husband emitting negative emotion changed. In the course of solving their own problems they face, their actions on their own initiative of accepting themselves positively and expressing their desire and hope increased.
Second, in the course of art therapy, there were positive changes of immigrant women being satisfied with adapting themselves to culture.
By expressing in the formative arts the confusion and conflict caused by different way of life and view of value while they felt isolated amid the preoccupation that they are foreigners and had difficulties adapting themselves to new culture, they perceived themselves and gradually showed changes in attitudes so that they accept adapting themselves to new culture and getting satisfaction.
I hope this study will be helpful in settling down the proper immigrant culture by understanding the difficulties of increasing number of married immigrant women entering into multicultural society and improving various problems inherent to Korean society and accepting changes resulting from globalization.