The purpose of this study is to provide psychological and emotional support for multicultural children by encouraging their emotional expressions, decreasing dual cultural stress, improving positive self concept.
For the research, 12 elementary schoo...
The purpose of this study is to provide psychological and emotional support for multicultural children by encouraging their emotional expressions, decreasing dual cultural stress, improving positive self concept.
For the research, 12 elementary school students, both girls and boys, were chosen as subject for the clinical study through careful selection out of 25 multicultural families that belong to a multicultural community center in Kyoungki Province. The chosen 12 students were devided into two groups an experimental group of six and another control group of six in consideration of their age, gender and pathological levels. 13 sessions of group art therapy was practiced from February 2009 to May, conducted once or twice a week for a duration of 80 minutes each.
Tools of the research are as follows:
First, SAFE(Scale for Adolescents) scale is to verify reductions in dual-cultural stress. Second, K-CBCL(Korea Child Behavior Check List) scale is to measure the level of emotional expression. Third, IFMF(I Feel Me Feel) scale is to gauge positive self-concept.
The methodology of the study is the observation of changes in behavioral patterns of the experimental group and t-test verification method through SPSS Win 14.0 program to analyze changes of the above three tests between two groups.
Results of the research are as follows:1) Group art therapy as emotional support has reduced dual-cultural stress for multicultural children.
2) Group art therapy as emotional support has encouraged emotional expression and relieved such emotional troubles as sentimental atrophy, anxiety, gloominess for multicultural children.
3) Group art therapy as emotional support has advanced positive self-concept for multicultural children.
In regard of these results, art therapy contributed to encouraging multicultural children to express their emotions, reducing dual-cultural stress, releiving emotional difficulties as atrophy, anxiety and gloomness and eventually advancing positive self-concept.
Accordingly it will be suggested that art therapy can serve as a meaningful early-stage measure to prevent reverse social effects by providing emotional support to socially less-privileged multicultural children.