Abstract
Persons with mental illness often have low self-esteem, a lack of self-expression, and poor social skills. This study used a quasi-experimental two-group pre-test-post-test design to investigate the effects of food art therapy on the self-esteem, self-expression, and social skills of persons with mental illness attending community rehabilitation facilities. The authors recruited persons with mental illness aged 18 years or older attending three community rehabilitation facilities. Participants in two rehabilitation facilities participated in food art therapy (experimental groups 1 and 2; n = 15 for each group), and participants in the third rehabilitation facility participated in regular programs of the facility (control group, n = 30). Participants in the experimental groups attended a total of eight sessions of food art therapy twice per week for four weeks. The Korean versions of the Rosenberg self-esteem scale, self-expression scale, and social skill rating system were administered at pre- and post-test in both the experimental and control groups. The self-esteem, self-expression, and social skills of the experimental group improved significantly compared to the control group. The findings suggested that food art therapy would be an excellent psychosocial intervention to help persons with mental illness to rehabilitate in the community.
Highlights
For a long time, people have formed a sense of community by cooking, eating, and sharing food [1]
This study aimed to verify the effects of food art therapy on the self-esteem, self-expression, and social skills of people with mental illness who attend community rehabilitation facilities
This quasi-experimental study sought to identify the effects of food art therapy on the self-esteem, self-expression, and social skills of people with mental illness in community rehabilitation centers
Summary
People have formed a sense of community by cooking, eating, and sharing food [1]. The authors designed this study to determine if people with mental illness in the community experience psychological healing from cooking. By gathering in a small group and sharing stories about a particular theme through food ingredients, individuals experience an improvement in their self-expression and sociality [6], as well as in their self-esteem [7]. One hypothesis of this study was that food art therapy improves the self-esteem of people with mental illness. The third hypothesis of this study was that food art therapy improves the social skills of people with mental illness. This study aimed to verify the effects of food art therapy on the self-esteem, self-expression, and social skills of people with mental illness who attend community rehabilitation facilities
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