This study aims to verify how the Group Expressive Art Therapy program, consisting of game therapy using music, art, play therapy and emotion card, influences the sociability of high-risk children. A child’s ability to function in society was classi...
This study aims to verify how the Group Expressive Art Therapy program, consisting of game therapy using music, art, play therapy and emotion card, influences the sociability of high-risk children. A child’s ability to function in society was classified into internal, environmental and socio-technological ability factors in order to determine their influence on sociability. There is also further study on what kind of approach is required to improve the sociability of high-risk children.
The subjects of this study included 9 and 10-year-old children in the third and fourth year in elementary school and who attend the after-school program of the regional children’s center, the J General Social Welfare Center in Gyeonggi-do. Using advanced tests, children with low social ability were selected. With six children in each test and control group, group expressive art therapy programs were held 24 times to the test group children for four months, 50 minutes for each time. The programs were skipped whenever a major number of children is absent due to family holidays, picnics or field trips. The program begins with a warm-up stage by building up physical and emotional relationships through Orff music therapy. For the main activities, the children are given the chance to improve their spontaneity by increasing their mutual actions and understanding each other through art and music therapy. In the stage designed for winning sympathy, an emotion-sharing game is played using 54 emotion cards.
This study measures the changes in the children’s social ability and verifies the effectiveness of the program by comparing their status before and after the tests, between the test group that attended the program and the control group that did not attend the program. Measurements implemented in this study include the children’s own self-report sociability measure, social support perception measure and the children’s social ability measure as observed and recognized by the teacher. Also, this study qualitatively analyzed the dynamics of the group, the children’s mutual actions and the changes in their social behaviors during the 24 program sessions. With the support and help of the teacher in charge of the regional children’s center, this study also supported the effects of the group expressive art therapy program through behavioral observation case analysis for changes insocial behavior outside the program.
The results of this study are summarized as follows.
First, the group expressive art therapy program significantly demonstrates a positive difference in the social ability recognized by the children and the teacher between the test group and control group. Through the program, the improved social behavior of the children was found to have an influence on the recognition of evaluation of others, collaboration, self-assertion, self-control ability and the support perception by the same age group and teachers.
Second, in order for the children’s internal improvement developed through the program to be externalized into good conversation skills, comfortable and happy interpersonal relations, and so on, this study needs to further implement a long-term program. Aside from the non-significant increase level of the test group children, the positive change found in their actual lives support this conclusion.
Third, the group expressive art therapy program has a preventive value for high-risk children to grow as healthy social individuals despite going through several risk factors in life. Through the program, the high-risk children were given the opportunity to express themselves, recognize themselves, improve their confidence upon solving conflicts, improve their relationship with others within their age group and teachers, and expect trust and growth for themselves, which also enhances their skill to adapt to their surrounding environment.
This study verifies that the group expressive art therapy program is an effective therapeutic measure in improving the social ability of high-risk children that may be exposed to several risk factors. Furthermore, through the case analysis of each child and qualitative analysis of the group, positive effects were observed on the children’s social behavior in actual life. Based on such results, this study discusses the meaning of this program and its limits as well as proposes suggestions for further studies.