Page 47 - ART FORM AND MENTAL HEALTH - Ingrid Pénzes

received therapy in different settings. Art therapists stressed the client’s individual way of interacting and experiencing art materials’ properties, but some similarities could be recognized. Art therapists mentioned the amount of rationalizing, flexibility and motivation as aspects they could assess through observing material interaction. However, it remains unclear whether these similarities can be generalized to clients with similar mental health issues. Consequently, it is important to systematically observe material interaction as part of art therapy assessment, but we do not know how specific patterns of clients’ material interaction can best be assessed in art therapy practice.
The above-mentioned considerations suggest that future research should investigate:
- Whether the results found in this study are also applicable in a wider
(international) context
- The operationalization of material interaction. How can material
interaction best be observed and/ or possibly measured in art therapy assessment? This may provide direction for how material interaction contributes to the general assessment in adult mental health care
- The generalization of similarities in material interaction of clients with similar mental health issues to art therapists.
CONCLUSION
Art therapists methodically apply the properties of art materials to gain insight into the client’s art making. A client’s material interaction provides valuable information about the client’s characteristics. Material interaction may be a strong concept in art therapy assessment because it stresses the importance of art materials in the assessment of adult clients’ mental health and links the art making with the art product. Therefore, material interaction has the potential to connect different approaches in art therapy assessment. The results of this study are a firm base for further articulating and theorizing the unique properties of art therapy assessment, which distinguish it from other forms of adult mental health care assessment.
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