Changes in general self-efficacy and mindfulness are associated with short-term improvements in mood during art-making in a partial hospital program

Abstract

A growing body of scholarship suggests that art-making provides symptom relief as well as short-term mood benefits. However, more research is needed to explore how artistic activities may lead to mood improvements within the course of sessions conducted in clinical contexts.To this end, we examined short-term outcomes of participation in an art group offered within a brief partial hospital program in which intensive day treatment is delivered. In a preliminary study (Study 1) conducted on Amazon MTurk (N = 193), we validated the use of a brief 7-item self-assessment scale to capture potential outcomes of art-making identified based on a review of the literature: positive/negative mood, general self-efficacy, creative self-efficacy, activation, mindfulness, and social connectedness. In our main study (Study 2), 175 patients in a partial hospital program completed the brief instrument validated in Study 1 at the beginning and end of a 50-minute unstructured art group. All psychological outcomes improved over the course of the group. Changes in general self-efficacy and mindfulness were associated with improvements in mood over and above changes in other outcomes. Results are limited by the naturalistic, uncontrolled, design of the group, which was not led by art therapists. These findings suggest that further studies examining patients’ experiences during art-making in clinical settings may provide useful insights into how this activity enhances mood.