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Dominican University of California

Increasing productivity in graduate students fulfilling thesis requirements via tactile art

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<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>

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy
Level thesis:degree_level
Master's Thesis
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Art Therapy
Year
2016

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Morse, Sarah
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Amy Backos, PhD, ATR-BC
  • Jennifer Harrison, PsyD, ATR-BC, DAAETS

Subjects

dc:subject × 7

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:scholar.dominican.edu:art-therapy-electronic-theses-2015-2021-1021

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Dominican University of California
Base URL
scholar.dominican.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Morse, Sarah. Increasing productivity in graduate students fulfilling thesis requirements via tactile art. Master's Thesis thesis, 2016. https://scholar.dominican.edu/art-therapy-electronic-theses-2015-2021/22