Art therapy with adult refugees: A systematic review of qualitative research

Abstract

There are currently no systematic reviews that evaluate art therapy as a treatment for trauma in adult refugees. With over 32.5 million refugees worldwide as of mid-2022, many of them facing trauma, it’s crucial that access to proper therapeutic support be available. Art therapy de-emphasizes verbal communication, which may help refugees facing language barriers and difficulties talking about their experiences. Most of the research on this topic is qualitative, so a qualitative meta-analysis as outlined by Timulak (2009) was attempted. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were made based on date, publication type, sample size, data collection method, participant information, type of therapeutic intervention, and data analysis method. Out of 594 articles located, selection resulted in only N = 4 studies. Timulak recommends 8–16 articles for meta-analysis. Therefore, studies were instead summarized in a box score table. Results revealed that art therapy shows potential, but no reliable conclusions can be drawn because, despite a large body of literature, there are very few empirical studies in this field. Considering this, further primary empirical research must be done. Results suggest that building culturally significant art forms into therapy may be a particularly helpful avenue of exploration.