Solution Focused Art Therapy among refugee children
The research I chose for this blog post is called Solution Focused Art Therapy among children Refugee. The research’s goal is to study the effect of Solution Focused Art Therapy with refugee children who has emotional disturbance. This research article will give me a better grasp on the psychology of children refugees, and the potential art therapy session performed among traumatized children. This would possibly help me conceptualize solutions using the methods presented in the research for our War Toys project. The sample consisted of 30 children from the refugee camps in Sharam Vihar, South Delhi and Mehwath, Haryana Sates. During the course of the study, the researchers attempted to measure and analyze different variables like depression, anxiety and stress. Researchers used (DASS 21) to do their study by using Pre-test and post-test designs to compare scores. DASS scores were compared to post-test on the biases of Depression, Anxiety, Stress and Solution Focused Art Therapy (SFAT).
According to the American Art Therapy Association, art therapy is “therapeutic use of art making, within a professional relationship, by people who experience illness, trauma, or challenges in living, and by people who seek personal development” (Betts, 2009). As explained in the research, Creative Art therapy was very helpful for clients with trauma to process their traumatic memories creatively. This was especially helpful for refugee children with trauma; since they have difficulties expressing themselves verbally due various reasons including, language barrier, embarrassment or being highly resistant to speak. Additionally, art therapy may help refugees to have a “sense of control, structure and a way to re-assert their identities through emotional expression and counterbalance of their losses”.
The article then identified the different types of art therapy:
Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)
Is a short-term goal oriented practice that focuses on the solution rather the problem that brought the client to the therapy. This method showed a significant improvement between pretest and posttest scores on Conner’s Parent Rating Scale and positive progress on the Feelings, Attitudes and Behavior Scale for children.
Solution Focused Art Therapy (SFAT)
This approach focuses on setting a hypothetical goal along with desired behaviors to help clients visualize the possible goals for them “ these goals need to be concrete and focused on the positive expression of behavior rather than the absence of a negative behavior and on some specific behavior that the client has a desire to experience”
What makes art therapy work with solution-focused therapy?
The commonality between the two approaches that they are action and goal oriented, and they give the client the authority to feel the sense of control physically and mentally while creating their expressive art work. Also, for therapists, this framework requires empathy and it will produce effective result if the therapists put themselves into the client’s world’s and mindset, which is the whole goal of art therapy.
Objective of the study:
Researcher studied the effect of solution focused art therapy in emotional disturbance among refugee children.
Intervention:
SFBTA was used in arranging the treatment while incorporating art, the researcher have 3-week intervention plan that has 5 sessions where there is 3 days gap in between, the duration of the session is 1–2 hours in a group of 15 student. The same method was done to other refugee camps.
Goal Setting:
The first and important step is to establish a clear and concrete goals that suits every child’s needs. The goal must be positive and behavioral. Then the therapist and the child work together to establish the goals and come up with ways to achieve them.
Method:
Using Art: this is an opportunity for the child to make a picture to what is happening in their lives and what should be doing to make these events better. The therapist start the session by asking
· “Draw a picture of what you would like to talk about”
· “Draw a picture of what you would like to change”
Miracle question: “Suppose that while you are sleeping tonight and the entire house is quiet, a miracle happens. The miracle is that the problem which brought you here is solved. However, because you are sleeping, you don’t know that the miracle has happened. So, when you wake up tomorrow morning, what will be different that will tell you that a miracle has happened and the problem which brought you here is solved?” (de Shazer, 1988)
Using Art: To facilitate the miracle question, the therapist say “ let’s draw a picture of your, it can be a big or a little miracle”
Exception:
■ When were things better?
■ What were you doing differently during that time?
■ What else was different during that time?
■ What must happen to have more times like this?
When the child recall the times when the problem didn’t exist, they will figure out the details of how they avoided the problem which will provide a guideline for solutions
Using art:
“Let’s draw a picture of a time when you had a little piece of that miracle”
Scaling:
On a scale of 1 to 10, with ten representing the best it can be and 1 the worse: 1. Where would you say you are today?
2. Where would you say you were a day or two ago? What was happening in your life when it was higher?
3. When your scale goes lower, how did you stop yourself from going further down?
4. What would be a realistic step to move up the scale during this period of time?
5. How would you know if you moved up on the scale?
6. What would need to happen for you to move up?
7. What strengths and skills do you have to help you move up the scale?
8. What have you learned about yourself from previous experiences?
Using Art:
The child was asked to draw a picture of himself depending on the scale was selected in the scaling sheet
Result:
Resources:
https://bobcat.library.nyu.edu/permalink/f/11l7rn4/TN_cdi_proquest_journals_1961766804
https://positivepsychology.com/solution-focused-therapy-techniques-worksheets/
