The role of the case study in art therapy research

Abstract

This article has been written in response to the pressures increasingly placed on art therapists and other mental health clinicians to conduct research that meets the requirements of evidence-based practice (EBP). It is argued that the case study though essentially a subjective method of enquiry nevertheless has the potential to enable art therapists to rigorously examine and explore key aspects of their clinical practice. It may, moreover, enable them to do so in a manner no less revealing than when applying research methodologies that base their efficacy upon their scientific objectivity. Central to the thesis that this article seeks to establish is that the case study is a form of story-telling and it is through stories that meaning is created and shared both inside and outside the clinical setting.