142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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Mental health journey for refugee children from Burma: Evaluating the use of art therapy in a school-based setting

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014 : 2:45 PM - 3:00 PM

Cassandra Rowe , Department of Health Behavior, University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, Carrboro, NC
Rose Watson-Ormond , Department of Health Behavior, University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, Durham, NC
Lacey English , Department of Health Behavior, University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC
Ashley Marshall , Department of Health Behavior, University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC
Andrew Amolegbe , Department of Health Behavior, UNC-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
Kristin Linton, MA LPC ATR , Art Therapy Institute, Carrboro, NC
Hillary Rubesin, MA LPC , Art Therapy Institute, Carrboro, NC
Audio (mp3) recording Recorded Presentation (mp4)
Background:Due to ongoing conflict and human rights violations in Burma, an estimated 400 refugee families were relocated to Orange County, NC. Many have experienced traumatic events in Burma and refugee camps in Thailand. Art Therapy Institute (ATI) provides art therapy to school-aged children from Burma to decrease their symptoms associated with trauma and acculturation distress. This paper will describe and discuss the methods and findings from an evaluation of this unique art therapy program and offer recommendations for future refugee mental health evaluations. 

Methods: The Piers-Harris Self Concept Scale, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Hopkins Symptoms Checklist, and Harvard Trauma Questionnaire were administered by clinicians to 28 participants at baseline to measure symptoms of anxiety and depression. Repeated quarterly measures are analyzed using means comparison, t-tests, and Wilcoxon Signed-Rank. Two focus group discussions with clinicians were memoed to provide feedback on the evaluation.

Results:Nearly all (.83) participants had experienced one or more traumatic events. At baseline, results showed higher prevalence of depression (.30) and anxiety (.20) than national rates among adolescents. Qualitative findings suggest that specific benefits of art therapy were not adequately captured with the quantitative tools used. 

Discussion: Cultural differences in the experience of trauma may be a hindrance to measuring intervention outcomes. The addition of a qualitative tool would give voice to participants, and may provide a broader picture of the impact that art therapy can have with this refugee population.

Learning Areas:

Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Diversity and culture
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Describe the process of art therapy that addresses cross-cultural mental health issues of concern when treating refugee children experiencing PTSD. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using validated psychometric scales to document the effects from art therapy. Identify at least 2 innovations that could strengthen evaluations of art therapy programs for refugee children.

Keyword(s): Mental Health, Refugees

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a Master of Public Health student at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health and have been trained in conducting public health evaluations. The content we are presenting on details the evaluation that I and my Capstone team have conducted with the Art Therapy Institute. I have special interests in trauma.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3340.0: Best practices of prevention efforts, and non-governmental and community based organizations’ role in refugee and immigrant health