The Effects of Group Art Therapy on Reducing Psychological Stress and Improving the Quality of Life in Iranian Newcomer Children (Les effets de l’art-thérapie de groupe sur la réduction du stress psychologique et l’amélioration de la qualité de vie d’enfants nouveaux arrivants iraniens)

Abstract

This study examines the effects of group art therapy on reducing psychological stress and improving the quality of life in Iranian child immigrants and refugees in order to bring cost-effective and accessible solutions to vulnerable communities. A quantitative study was conducted in an Iranian school in Montreal with 10 Iranian immigrant children aged 8 to 12 with no mental health diagnosis reported. Psychological stress of participants and their quality of life were assessed by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised questionnaires (SCL-90-R), the Revidierter Kinder Lebensqualitätsfragebogen questionnaire (KINDL-R), and measure of the cortisol level in their saliva samples, before the intervention, after 10 weeks of group art therapy, and at the four-week follow-up. The paired t-tests showed a significant difference in the scores for PSS, SCL-90-R, and KINDL-R before the beginning and after the end of 10 art therapy sessions. In addition, the paired t-tests showed that the reduction in the stress level remained statistically significant even after four weeks of finishing the art therapy intervention. Although cortisol levels did not decrease during the last session, they were significantly lower in comparison to those before the start of the intervention.