Rice Therapy as a Positive Social Work Approach: Directive Vs. Nondirective Outcomes

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Rice Therapy (RT) was created to process clients’ life stressors. Two trainings were delivered at two geographically different sites (E1 and E2) in China for testing the benefits of RT in social work. Methods: E1 participants (n = 42) were directed to recall happiness in their rice artwork creation, while this keyword was not given in E2 (n = 88). The organizing agency in each site collected evaluation data after training through an anonymous e-survey including two individualized rating scales on retrospective pre- and immediate post-RT mood self-assessment and three open-ended questions on the potentiality and limitations of applying RT in social work practice. These secondary data were analyzed with a bi-experimental comparison design. Results: Both groups showed post-RT mood improvement, with E1 (directive) participants generating greater improvement than E2 (nondirective) participants. A mixed between-within-subjects analysis of variance showed insignificant interactive effects between groups on the participants’ mood scores, meaning that directive and nondirective approaches to artwork creation produced similar outcomes. Overall comments addressed three themes: 1) benefit of using rice; 2) RT effectiveness; 3) evaluation of RT as a practice platform. Discussion: RT benefits should be further tested with instruments measuring the various contributing factors of this positive approach to stress reduction.

KEYWORDS:

• Self-care
• Therapeutic Keyword Ricetray Therapy
• Bi-experimental Comparison Design
• Retrospective Pretest

Additional information

Funding

This research was partially funded by the National Social Sciences Foundation in China (grant# 16BSH058).