Mental health among university students represents a growing concern, particularly in relation to stress caused by procrastination. The student researcher hypothesized graduate and doctoral students would show increased productivity and decreased procrastination on thesis related work following a tactile-based art intervention. The student researcher utilized a clay-based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) art intervention on graduate and doctoral students to study its effectiveness on reducing procrastination and stress on thesis related tasks. The art directive specifically targeted the concepts of experiential avoidance and haptic perception in clay. This pretest-posttest study yielded twenty-one participants and found approaching significance in the use of tactile art to increase empathy in one’s thesis work. The study also examined current stress levels, procrastination ratings, and methods for procrastination amongst this population. The current study provides insightful information that may spark future research in the field of art therapy, tactile art, procrastination, and empathy in the graduate and doctoral student population.
","abstract_html":"<p>Mental health among university students represents a growing concern, particularly in relation to stress caused by procrastination. The student researcher hypothesized graduate and doctoral students would show increased productivity and decreased procrastination on thesis related work following a tactile-based art intervention. The student researcher utilized a clay-based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) art intervention on graduate and doctoral students to study its effectiveness on reducing procrastination and stress on thesis related tasks. The art directive specifically targeted the concepts of experiential avoidance and haptic perception in clay. This pretest-posttest study yielded twenty-one participants and found approaching significance in the use of tactile art to increase empathy in one’s thesis work. The study also examined current stress levels, procrastination ratings, and methods for procrastination amongst this population. The current study provides insightful information that may spark future research in the field of art therapy, tactile art, procrastination, and empathy in the graduate and doctoral student population.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Morse, Sarah"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy","degree_level":"Master's Thesis","degree_discipline":"Art Therapy","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Amy Backos, PhD, ATR-BC","Jennifer Harrison, PsyD, ATR-BC, DAAETS"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2016-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:04:51Z","subjects":["Art Therapy","Graduate Students","Procrastination","Tactile Art","Acceptance and Commitment Therapy","Art and Design","Counseling Psychology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholar.dominican.edu/art-therapy-electronic-theses-2015-2021/22","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Amy Backos, PhD, ATR-BC","Jennifer Harrison, PsyD, ATR-BC, DAAETS"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Morse, Sarah"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Art Therapy"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Master's Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Art Therapy","Graduate Students","Procrastination","Tactile Art","Acceptance and Commitment Therapy","Art and Design","Counseling Psychology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholar.dominican.edu/art-therapy-electronic-theses-2015-2021/22"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Mental health among university students represents a growing concern, particularly in relation to stress caused by procrastination. The student researcher hypothesized graduate and doctoral students would show increased productivity and decreased procrastination on thesis related work following a tactile-based art intervention. The student researcher utilized a clay-based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) art intervention on graduate and doctoral students to study its effectiveness on reducing procrastination and stress on thesis related tasks. The art directive specifically targeted the concepts of experiential avoidance and haptic perception in clay. This pretest-posttest study yielded twenty-one participants and found approaching significance in the use of tactile art to increase empathy in one’s thesis work. The study also examined current stress levels, procrastination ratings, and methods for procrastination amongst this population. The current study provides insightful information that may spark future research in the field of art therapy, tactile art, procrastination, and empathy in the graduate and doctoral student population.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Increasing productivity in graduate students fulfilling thesis requirements via tactile art"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Amy Backos, PhD, ATR-BC","Jennifer Harrison, PsyD, ATR-BC, DAAETS"],"dc:creator":["Morse, Sarah"],"dc:description.abstract":["Mental health among university students represents a growing concern, particularly in relation to stress caused by procrastination. The student researcher hypothesized graduate and doctoral students would show increased productivity and decreased procrastination on thesis related work following a tactile-based art intervention. The student researcher utilized a clay-based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) art intervention on graduate and doctoral students to study its effectiveness on reducing procrastination and stress on thesis related tasks. The art directive specifically targeted the concepts of experiential avoidance and haptic perception in clay. This pretest-posttest study yielded twenty-one participants and found approaching significance in the use of tactile art to increase empathy in one’s thesis work. The study also examined current stress levels, procrastination ratings, and methods for procrastination amongst this population. The current study provides insightful information that may spark future research in the field of art therapy, tactile art, procrastination, and empathy in the graduate and doctoral student population.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholar.dominican.edu/art-therapy-electronic-theses-2015-2021/22"],"dc:subject":["Art Therapy","Graduate Students","Procrastination","Tactile Art","Acceptance and Commitment Therapy","Art and Design","Counseling Psychology"],"dc:title":["Increasing productivity in graduate students fulfilling thesis requirements via tactile art"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Art Therapy"],"thesis:degree_level":["Master's Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:04:51Z"}