Page 76 - ART FORM AND MENTAL HEALTH - Ingrid Pénzes

The same kind of diversity is seen in the way formal elements are interpreted. In previous studies, formal elements are related to distinctive psychological features. In most studies, formal elements are related to disorders of the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) or the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) (Gantt & Tabone, 1998; Hacking, 1999; Cohen et al., 1986; Kim et al., 2014). Whereas in more recent studies formal elements are related to clients’ strengths (Hinz, 2009, 2015; Pénzes et al., 2014, 2015) in line with perspectives on positive mental health (Huber, et al., 2016) and recovery (Anthony, 1993). These perspectives have found their way into art therapy observation and assessment (Betts in Gilroy et al., 2012; Wilkinson & Chilton, 2013).
Thus, until now, literature has been far from consistent in presenting tools or suggestions directed towards the clinical use of formal elements in art therapy observation and assessment. Despite this ambiguous evidence, formal elements are very often used in clinical practice. Art therapists use existing art therapy assessment instruments in their own way, frequently developing their own assessment methods with their own favorite formal elements (Claessens et al., 2016). It is however unclear which formal elements art therapists find relevant in their clinical practice, how they observe and interpret them, and how art therapists relate formal elements to mental health. In this study, we will systematically investigate these aspects by interviewing art therapists with many years of experience in clinical practice. If indeed art therapists in clinical practice use formal elements in a consistent way, the outcomes of the present study may contribute to the ‘body of knowledge’ regarding if and how formal elements can be used in art therapy observation and assessment to estimate clients’ mental health, and direct further treatment.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
In this study, we used Constructivist Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 2014). This qualitative approach inductively generates theory grounded in empirical data. Data was gathered through interviews with eight very experienced art therapists and analyzed by initial, focused and theoretical coding principles of qualitative analysis (Charmaz, 2014). See Figure 1.
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