Back to results

Dominican University of California

Increasgin Self-Esteem and Self-Efficacy in Fromerly Incarcerated Adult Women Using Narrative Art Therapy

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<p>The population of adult women who have experienced incarceration or other forms of the criminal justice system is on the rise overall, and research indicates that this population is highly affected by issues of mental health, substance abuse, and trauma. Studies suggest that self-esteem and self-efficacy play a large role in how women approach reentry after release, and that art therapy can play a beneficial role in increasing these two concepts for the population. The study presented here focused on the population of justice-involved women and how narrative art therapy could impact their self-esteem and self-efficacy. Two scales were used to assess self-esteem and self-efficacy of four adult women who had experienced incarceration, with each scale used as a pretest and a posttest to measure if art therapy had a positive impact on these perceptions. Between the pretest and posttest, four art therapy interventions were given to the participants and narrative therapy techniques were used to facilitate a discussion after each directive was completed. Results indicated that narrative art therapy did positively impact the women overall, but additional studies are necessary to determine statistical significance. Implications for future studies are discussed.</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 dc:date.available
2015

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Ehisen, Caitlyn
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Amy Backos, PhD, ATR-BC
  • Carolee Stabno, PsyD, MFT

Subjects

dc:subject × 6

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:scholar.dominican.edu:art-therapy-print-theses-1292

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

Ehisen, Caitlyn. Increasgin Self-Esteem and Self-Efficacy in Fromerly Incarcerated Adult Women Using Narrative Art Therapy. Master's Thesis thesis, 2015. https://scholar.dominican.edu/art-therapy-print-theses/293