Does art therapy promote the experience of Flow? Evaluation of an intervention project to reduce the stress level perceived and improve the mood

Abstract

Art therapy has been successfully used as an approach focused on (re)activating the resources of people with dementia. Nevertheless, it is important to pay attention to their caregivers who, due to their work, experience challenges that affect their well-being. The objective of this project is to explore the suitability and acceptability of an art therapy intervention program focused on activating the resources of older people and caregivers of people with dementia. A quantitative evaluation of the subjective experience of Flow was carried out, exploring its use as a possible indicator of the perceived creative experience. For this, the Flow Short Scale (FSS) instrument was used, applied after the creative exploration in each session. Likewise, the change in both the level of momentary perceived stress and the momentary mood was quantitatively evaluated using a visual analog scale (VAS) and comparing the pre-post-session data. All the participants were caregivers of people with dementia (n=20, M=65.4 years, ♀=18, ♂=2). The results suggest that the intervention allowed experiencing Hight Flow states (M=5.57), a significant reduction in the current level of perceived stress (p<.001, d=1.41), and a significant improvement in current mood (p<.001, d=.87). In conclusion, this project shows the potential of art therapy intervention approaches focused on (re)activating resources of older people and caregivers of people with dementia.