Communicating Scope of Practice: An Outpatient Group Art Therapy Documentation Initiative (Communiquer le champ de pratique : une initiative de documentation sur l’art-thérapie ambulatoire de groupe)

Abstract

In medical settings, art therapists face challenges of communicating their therapeutic practices to clinicians who are unfamiliar with the vernacular of art therapy. Despite growing evidence, the field of art therapy lacks a common language “scope of practice” that easily translates across fields. In this study, we piloted a novel documentation tool, The Progress Note for Group Art Therapy (PN-GAT), which aggregated frequencies of assessments and interventions within the Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital in New York, while identifying common practices of outpatient art therapy groups that may contribute to the development of a more communicable “scope of practice.” Our interdisciplinary documentation initiative was implemented during 18 adult outpatient art therapy groups conducted by one art therapist from August 2018 through February 2019. Analysis showed that insight-development (38.6%) and social-relational (35.9%) interventions were recorded more frequently than art-making (25.5%) interventions. The most frequently logged art therapy assessments included assessments of client response (88.9% of sessions) and mental status examinations (72.2%). The growth of art therapy within medical practices necessitates a rethinking of treatment collaboration. Our findings identified frequently used components of art therapy based in a medical setting, as well as the need for future medical education initiatives. While improving standards of collaborative care, the development of a well-defined “scope of practice” may serve to enhance interdisciplinary communication.