A Narrative Approach to Art Therapy for Life Review as a Means to Increase Mood in an Elder Community

Abstract

This human-subject study used a quantitative research design to identify if participation in individual art therapy sessions designed to explore life review through a narrative approach would increase mood in older adults. It was hypothesized that elders (ages 65+) who participated in six individual art therapy sessions, once a week, over the course of six weeks, would show an increase in mood. An increase in mood is defined as a decrease in depressive symptomology. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) provided a baseline measure of depressive symptomologies, rather than a diagnosis of depression. The average difference of individual’s pre-and-post BDI-II scores were used to identify if a change in mood occurred as a result of participation in the study. Participants used artmaking and storytelling as a means to engage in a life review process. The use of story stems and collage were the primary means of engaging in the study. The results showed that participants’ average BDI-II scores decreased post-study. These findings provide support for the use of a narrative approach to art therapy to explore life review as a means to increase mood in older adults. Future implications of this study include continuing to explore the correlations between art therapy and life review as a means of building ego integrity, a deeper review of the artwork created as a response to the story stem, and additional research on the use of the BDI-II for a measure of increased mood. The study provides quantitative support for the use of a narrative approach to art therapy as a means to increase mood in an aging population.