An art therapy intervention for cancer patients in the ambulant aftercare - results from a non-randomised controlled study.

Art therapy in psycho-oncology is gaining increasing importance, but systematic evaluations of its effects are rare. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of an art therapy intervention for cancer patients in ambulant aftercare on psychological distress and coping. The intervention consisted of 22 sessions. At three points of measurement (t1: before intervention, t2: following intervention, t3: 6 months after t2), participants responded to questionnaires (Freiburg Questionnaire on Coping with Illness, Perceived Adjustment to Chronic Illness Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale). A group of haemato-oncological patients served as the comparison group (CG). Pre-post comparisons and analyses of variance were applied for statistical analysis. Relevant confounders were controlled. Fifty-four patients (intervention group, IG) with various cancer diagnoses completed the intervention. One hundred and twenty-nine data sets were available for the CG. Analyses of variance included group membership (IG vs. CG) and the following factors: gender, other psychosocial help and major life events. None of these variables was a predictor for changes in depression, anxiety and coping. Therefore, we could not prove intervention effects over time. Our results contradict those of preliminary studies and raise important questions. Further work on evaluating art therapy is necessary to explore which intervention concepts in which setting at which treatment stage show significant effects. Therefore, controlling for relevant confounders is needed.

["About me and my disease" - the making of an individual book within an art therapy course for cancer patients]. / "Über mich und meine Krankheit" - die Gestaltung eines individuellen Buches im Rahmen einer kunstpädagogischen Intervention für Krebspatienten.

AIMS: Art therapy is increasingly gaining in importance in psychooncological care. At the university of Leipzig an art therapy intervention was developed for cancer patients in ambulant aftercare and was tested in retrospect. The aim of the course was making an individual book-object, in which the cancer could be a central topic. METHODS: Before and after the intervention the participants were questioned using semi-structured interviews. Beside the qualitative analysis of the interviews the process of the course and the making of the book were demonstrated using the example of a breast cancer patient. RESULTS: The participants reported various effects of the intervention. In all, 17 of 23 participants have created her own book. More than 75 % of the books created pick out their own cancer disease as a central theme. The participants deal with the subject in different ways. All participants placed themselves at the center and the majority created the book for themselves. CONCLUSION: The results show that the making of an individual book permits a constructive analysis with the cancer disease in a protected framework and can have a supportive effect on the participants in dealing with their disease.