Focusing-Oriented Art Therapy as a Means of Stress Reduction With Graduate Students

<p>This study sought to test the effectiveness of using a mindfulness based practice. Focusing-Oriented Art Therapy, as a way to reduce stress and raise students' perceived levels of self-compassion in graduate students. Participants consisted of 9 female graduate students in the Art Therapy Psychology program at Notre Dame de Namur University. Participants took part in two group sessions where FOAT's Clearing a Space with Art Directive and Non-Directive Imagery were administered. The Stress Arousal Checklist and a self-report stress scale were used as a pre and post-test to measure stress levels before and after the CAS with Art exercise. Self- compassion was measured using the Self-Compassion Scale as a pretest in the first session and a posttest in the second session. Quantitative and qualitative results showed that FOAT's CAS with Art is an effective technique in reducing stress. Results did not indicate an increase of the participants' perceived levels of self-compassion. Quantitative and qualitative data are discussed. Artwork is used to illustrate the qualitative data.</p>

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 dc:date.available

2012

Author dc:creator

• Weiland, Liz

Contributors dc:contributor

• Laury Rappaport, PhD, MFT, ATR-BC
• Deborah Sharpe, MA ATR-BC

• Art Therapy
• Stress Reduction
• Graduate Students
• University Students
• College Students
• Counseling Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholar.dominican.edu/art-therapy-print-theses/221

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholar.dominican.edu:art-therapy-print-theses-1220