Online Self-Help Art Therapy-Based Tasks During COVID-19: Qualitative Study

Abstract

This qualitative study explored how online individual art-therapy based (ATB) self-help tasks could support international students during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Twenty-two students participated in 7 weekly online asynchronous sessions that included both art-making and reflecting writing. Emergent themes included: (1) frustration of isolation, (2) loss of control, and (3) support (nature, transpersonal, attachment). Implications of the study offer preliminary evidence that when there is not a possibility for an in-person or real-time encounter, ATB self-help tasks may be a source of coping.

Keywords:

• Art-making
• expressive writing
• self-help
• COVID-19
• online

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zsuzsanna Geréb Valachiné

Zsuzsanna Geréb Valachiné, MA, Szilvia A. Karsai, MA, and Raissa de Oliveira Negrão, MA, are doctoral students; Adél Dancsik, BA, is a master’s student and an undergraduate research assistant; Michelle M. Fitos, BA, is a master's student; and Renáta Cserjési, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Institute of Psychology, Eötvös Lóránd University, Budapest, Hungary.

Szilvia A. Karsai

Zsuzsanna Geréb Valachiné, MA, Szilvia A. Karsai, MA, and Raissa de Oliveira Negrão, MA, are doctoral students; Adél Dancsik, BA, is a master’s student and an undergraduate research assistant; Michelle M. Fitos, BA, is a master's student; and Renáta Cserjési, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Institute of Psychology, Eötvös Lóránd University, Budapest, Hungary.

Adél Dancsik

Zsuzsanna Geréb Valachiné, MA, Szilvia A. Karsai, MA, and Raissa de Oliveira Negrão, MA, are doctoral students; Adél Dancsik, BA, is a master’s student and an undergraduate research assistant; Michelle M. Fitos, BA, is a master's student; and Renáta Cserjési, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Institute of Psychology, Eötvös Lóránd University, Budapest, Hungary.

Raissa de Oliveira Negrão

Zsuzsanna Geréb Valachiné, MA, Szilvia A. Karsai, MA, and Raissa de Oliveira Negrão, MA, are doctoral students; Adél Dancsik, BA, is a master’s student and an undergraduate research assistant; Michelle M. Fitos, BA, is a master's student; and Renáta Cserjési, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Institute of Psychology, Eötvös Lóránd University, Budapest, Hungary.

Michelle M. Fitos

Zsuzsanna Geréb Valachiné, MA, Szilvia A. Karsai, MA, and Raissa de Oliveira Negrão, MA, are doctoral students; Adél Dancsik, BA, is a master’s student and an undergraduate research assistant; Michelle M. Fitos, BA, is a master's student; and Renáta Cserjési, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Institute of Psychology, Eötvös Lóránd University, Budapest, Hungary.

Renáta Cserjési

Zsuzsanna Geréb Valachiné, MA, Szilvia A. Karsai, MA, and Raissa de Oliveira Negrão, MA, are doctoral students; Adél Dancsik, BA, is a master’s student and an undergraduate research assistant; Michelle M. Fitos, BA, is a master's student; and Renáta Cserjési, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Institute of Psychology, Eötvös Lóránd University, Budapest, Hungary.