Considering referral to art therapy: Responses to referral and experiences of participants in a randomised controlled trial

Abstract

Schizophrenia is the name given to a debilitating condition treated medically with antipsychotic medication. However medication is only partially effective and many people diagnosed with schizophrenia have complex health and social needs requiring a spectrum of care which might include psychotherapy. Although National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines for the treatment of schizophrenia state that referral to art therapy should be considered, especially for patients with negative symptoms, research supports the view that art therapy does not lead to improved patient outcomes when offered to most people with the disorder. Thus clinicians need more information to support consideration of referral. To this end, we report experiences of participants allocated to art therapy in a randomised trial of art therapy. By tracing the pathways and reported outcomes, we demonstrate that although relatively few ‘engaged’, those who did attributed personally valued changes, including improvements in self-esteem, social confidence and sense of agency, to participation. For some the experience was life changing. Our findings support therapists' views that art therapy can contribute to personal recovery and that outcomes are related to participants' investment in the therapeutic process. They thus shed light on the challenges of meaningfully assessing psychotherapy, which is an inherently interactive process using randomised trials, and highlight the importance of integrating process evaluations if ‘outcomes’ are to inform clinical care.

Keywords:

• Outcomes
• grounded theory
• process
• schizophrenia
• RCT

View correction statement:

Corrigendum

Notes

This article was originally published with errors. This version has been corrected. Please see Corrigendum (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17454832.2012.751187).