The CARE-AAT Guideline: Development and testing of a consensus-based guideline for case reports in anthroposophic art therapy

ABSTRACT

Anthroposophic art therapists (AATs) report individual cases in narratives of poor scientific quality. Good quality case reports are an important factor in the development of evidence-based practice. A guideline for scientific case reports could contribute to this. However, the recently published guideline for medical case reports (the CARE Guidelines, covering diagnosis, treatment and outcomes) is not completely suitable for AAT. This study aimed at the development of a guideline for AAT case reports. The CARE Guidelines were adjusted following the recommended steps for health reporting guidelines. The proposed adjustments are based on AAT literature and expert opinions. The face validity of the new CARE-AAT Guideline was judged by an international group of 35 AATs and 3 experts on case study methodology. Seven items of the CARE Guidelines needed specification or addition. One item (Treatment Objectives and Plan) had to be added and six items could be used without change. The face validity of the new guideline is good. The CARE-AAT Guideline is suitable for scientific case reporting of AAT practice. It is assumed to be suitable for art therapy case reporting as well. Future use of the guideline will show whether further optimisation of the guideline is needed.

KEYWORDS:

• Art therapy
• anthroposophic art therapy
• case report
• case study
• guideline

Acknowledgements

CARE-AAT group: Annemarie Abbing, Anne Ponstein, Odulf Damen, Joop Hoekman and Erik Baars. The research group would like to thank the experts for judging the face validity of the case report guideline and Charlotte Vermeulen for contributing to the literature survey.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Annemarie Abbing, BA in visual art therapy and MSc in Veterinary Medicine, is conducting a PhD programme on the development of a documentation method for (anthroposophic) art therapy and case study methodology. She is a researcher at the Professorship Anthroposophic Healthcare of the University of Applied Sciences (UAS), Leiden, the Netherlands.

Anne Ponstein, BA in visual art therapy and MSc and PhD in Biochemistry, is lecturer in the department of Art Therapy at the UAS Leiden and researcher at the Professorship Anthroposophic Healthcare. She has a special interest and experience in mental healthcare.

Gunver Kienle studied medicine in Germany and received methodological training at Harvard, USA. She is co-founder of and senior research scientist at the Institute for Applied Epistemology and Medical Methodology at the University of Witten-Herdecke, Freiburg, Germany. Her research interests include placebo effects, clinical research methodology, clinical judgement, single case study designs, cognition-based medicine, and systematic reviews on pre-clinical and clinical studies on mistletoe therapy. She is editor of the journal Global Advances in Health and Medicine.

Harald Gruber is a professor for art therapy at Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences, Alfter, Germany. He has a special interest in specific working factors in art therapy.

Erik Baars is a medical doctor and epidemiologist. He worked for over 15 years in anthroposophic healthcare and is senior healthcare researcher at the Louis Bolk Instituut. Since 2007 he has been a professor of anthroposophic healthcare at the UAS Leiden. Erik Baars has more than 200 publications to his name.

Notes

1. Where ‘he’ is written, ‘she’ can also be read.

2. In AAT the term client is used instead of patient, in order to emphasize the equal relationship between therapist and patient.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Iona Stichting (Iona Foundation), Stichting Antroposofische Gezondheidszorg Phoenix (Foundation of Anthroposophic Healthcare Phoenix) and Nederlandse Vereniging voor Kunstzinnige Therapie (NVKToag, Dutch Professional Association of Anthroposophic Art Therapists).