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S001-2

Therapeutic Art Drawing Group for Mental Health Services Users in A Day Care
Unit

Irna Kartina1, Shu-Jen Chen2

1Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Indonesia 2Central Taiwan University of Science and
Technology, Taiwan

Background/Objective: Based on World Health Organization (2001) report, that approximately 450
million people worldwide have suffered mental health problem, there are 25% of the population is
expected to experience mental disorder in a given age during their lifetime. The helping strategies for
mental health promotion can be very important to these people. Therapeutic art drawing can be a
good option and used in this project. The objective of this project is to explore the mental health
service users’ feelings and emotions relevant to the drawings they made.

Method: The project includes five sessions of therapeutic art drawing with discussion and sharing in
each session. This art group will be done at a psychiatric day care unit in mid Taiwan. The service
user is asked to draw freely then encouraged to share their pictures within the group. Some of the
users who are good with communication in English will be followed by individual interview after
each session. The content of individual interviews, the drawings and their personal meanings toward
the art group members will be analyzed by the method of content analysis.

Result: The personal meanings attached to the pictures and interpreted by the group members will be
presented by the categories generated from the analysis.

Conclusion: How the art drawings and the group perceived by the mental health service users in this
day-care unit will be explored. Its implications in the mental health field will be discussed.

Reference: Drabant, S., Wilson, M., & King, R. (2009). Art therapy in mental health practice.
Acquiring Knowledge In Speech, Language & Hearing, 11(3), 136-140.
Burt, H. (2012). Art Therapy and Postmodernism: Creative Healing Through a Prism, London :
Jessica Kingsley Publishers