Art-based self-care during COVID-19

ABSTRACT

Background

The COVID-19 global pandemic was a profoundly traumatic experience, in which healthcare workers were stressed, anxious, and overwhelmed as they laboured amidst chaos, upheaval, and mounting death. During such challenging and uncertain times, it is imperative to prioritise self-care in order to maintain mental and emotional wellbeing.

Aims

This study explored the impact of an art-based self-care practice on the resilience of a healthcare worker during a 14-day quarantine on a trip to South Korea during COVID-19.

Methods

Interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) was employed to analyze written reflections of artwork created during my quarantine. I employed a grounding art therapy directive consisting of six steps: find a comfortable position, identify my feelings, allow thoughts or images to arise, create and respond to the images, engage in art dialogue with the artwork, and give a name to the whole process.

Results

Three phases emerged reflecting a journey in which states of powerlessness and confusion gave way to a release of frozen feelings and a renewal of body awareness. Elaborated healing images then emerged representing a return of hope, spirituality, growth, and a longing to reconnect with others.

Conclusions

Amidst such a chaotic overwhelming traumatic experience art-based self-care practices can be a way to regain a sense of control and self-efficacy.

Implications for practice/policy/future research

Art-based self-care practices can be valuable for healthcare workers during times of crisis and stress. Including semi-structured interviews inquiring into the experiences of a larger number of participants and controlled experimental designs would help validate these findings.

Plain-language summary

The COVID-19 global pandemic was a profoundly traumatic experience, affecting individuals worldwide and causing acute anxiety, stress, and sense of overwhelm. Healthcare workers, in particular, were stressed and exhausted due to work overload. During such challenging times, it is imperative to prioritise self-care to increase resilience. I had been working as art therapist in a psychiatric unit of a hospital for 9 months when I had to return to my birthplace of South Korea to attend to a family matter. Facing a 14-day quarantine, I decided to practice art-based self-care as a way to soothe and attend to my anxious emotional state.

I wanted to understand the benefits of art-based self-care on resilience in healthcare workers. The directive consisted of six steps: find a comfortable position, identify my feelings, allow thoughts or images to arise, create and respond to the images, allow verbal responses to the images, and give a name to the whole process. I examined the written reflections of the artwork I created during daily self-care practice.

The results reflect a journey, in which a state of fragmentation and exhaustion gave way under the exploration of my complex inner state, releasing diverse emotions, and leading to bodily awareness and emotional restoration. I rediscovered a sense of hope and a spiritual inclination to reconnect with others. Art-based self-care helped facilitate reconnection with myself, my needs, my body, and others, which in turn enabled me to prioritise self-care during the stresses of COVID-19.

Policymakers and healthcare organisations should consider incorporating art-based self-care programmes for healthcare workers to support their resilience and emotional wellbeing. Future researchers should consider interviewing a larger number of healthcare workers who follow the grounding art-therapy directive I used. Stronger research designs could be used to further support my findings and inform future interventions for healthcare workers.

KEYWORDS:

• Art-based self-care
• healthcare workers
• COVID-19 pandemic
• self-care praxis
• creative engagement
• interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jee Hyun Kim

Jee Hyun Kim, PhD, ATR-BC, ATCS, LCAT, is a Board Certified and New York State Licensed Art Therapist in clinical and behavioral psychiatry at Nassau University Medical Centre in East Meadow, New York, USA. As a member of the multidisciplinary treatment team, she provides therapeutic programmes for mentally ill patients. Additionally, she is an adjunct professor at Long Island University in Brookville, New York, USA. She was raised in South Korea and trained in art therapy in the US, where she obtained her doctorate from Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California, USA.