Abstract

Objectives The purpose of this study is to investigate the psychological changes that Korean-Vietnamese multicultural children experience through non-face-to-face gestalt art therapy, and whether their ability to cope with bicultural stress is improved. Methods A total of three children participated in the study, children from Korean-Vietnamese multicultural families at the Multicultural Family Support Center. Non-face-to-face Gestalt art therapy in this study is based on Zinker's ‘notice-contact cycle’ and consists of a total of 4 stages: the sensory stage, the awareness stage, the energy mobilization/action/contact stage, and the retreat/finish stage. A total of 8 sessions were operated once a week. As an analysis method, a qualitative research method was applied to repeatedly analyze and categorize the stories according to the symbolism of the art work obtained from the recorded images for each session, the observation contents of the activity process, the artwork photos and the supervision data. As a research tool, the PPAT test (Person Picking an Apple from the Tree) was conducted before and after the program to measure the ability to cope with bicultural stress. Results Four top topics and eight bottom topics were derived for psychological changes experienced in the non-face-to-face Gestalt art therapy process. The upper categories were “my emotions faced through art work”, “facing with a weakened self”, “encounter with a positive self”, and “my new beginning that has changed”. Participating children went through the process of honestly expressing and accurately recognizing self-emotion through the recognition process of Gestalt art therapy, forming a positive perception of the two cultures and changing their thoughts and attitudes about how to cope with prejudice and discrimination around them. In the PPAT test, there were positive changes in problem-solving ability and coping ability using resources. Conclusions This study is meaningful in that non-face-to-face Gestalt art therapy is effective in reducing bicultural stress in multicultural children, providing useful information for healthy emotional development of children from multicultural families, and is expected to be used as basic data for the application and expansion of non-face-to-face art therapy.

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