Page 78 - ART FORM AND MENTAL HEALTH - Ingrid Pénzes

pencils. The sampled clients had just started treatment in art therapy in a range of mental health settings. In this stage of treatment it is common in the Netherlands that the head of treatment (usually a psychologist or psychiatrist) formulates a preliminary DSM-diagnosis that might change during the course of assessment. Art therapists do not formulate a DSM- diagnosis. In a later phase they formulate an art therapy diagnosis and contribute to a general descriptive diagnosis.
Interviews
The art therapists were interviewed using “intensive interviews” (Charmaz, 2014). The aim of these interviews was to explore in detail which formal elements the art therapists observed and how they described mental health. In particular how exactly they related formal elements to what aspects of mental health. The first six interviews took place in the work setting of the art therapist. Interview seven and eight were conducted on Skype. All interviews were videotaped. During the live interviews the art products were spread out randomly. During the Skype interviews the art products were discussed in numerical order. The interviews were conducted with an interview guide based on the research questions of this study. First, every art therapist was asked to look at the art products separately, describe the formal elements and describe the first impression she gained about the client. Second, more general questions were asked about how she would define the concept of mental health. Finally, every art therapist was asked how she would relate the formal elements of the art product to various aspects of mental health.
This guide was used as a flexible structure to ensure detailed exploration of the art therapists’ view on formal elements of the art product, mental health and the interrelatedness of formal elements and mental health. Open and investigative questions (Charmaz, 2014) were asked to pinpoint these relationships in order to gain an understanding of the diagnostic value of formal elements of art products in art therapy observation; which formal elements exactly are important and how are they related to exactly which aspects of clients’ mental health?
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