TY - JOUR JF - PCP JO - PCP VL - 2 IS - 2 PY - 2014 Y1 - 2014/4/01 TI - The Effectiveness of Expressive Group Art Therapy on Decreasing Anxiety of Orphaned Children TT - N2 - Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of expressive arts therapy on decreasing anxiety of orphaned girls living in family-like centers of Mashhad, Iran.  Methods: One week prior to final examinations, participants were randomly assigned to either an expressive art-making group or a control group. The State-trait anxiety inventory was administered before and after participation. Expressive art making activities included painting or coloring predesigned Mandalas, free-form painting, collage making, still life drawing, and modeling with clay.  Results: The mean state anxiety score between pre-activity and post-activity decreased significantly in the expressive art-making group, whereas no difference was found in the control group. Similarly, the mean trait anxiety score between pre- and post-activity in the artmaking group was significantly lower, and no difference was observed in the controls.  Conclusion: These findings suggest that a brief period of expressive art making can significantly reduce a person’s state of anxiety, which may have implications for art and art therapy programs that offer methods for helping orphaned children coping with stress. SP - 109 EP - 116 AU - Zarezadeh Kheibari, Shiva AU - Hokm Abadi, Mohammad Ebrahim AU - Mohebi Anabat, Ali AU - Shakiba, Shima AU - Hosseini Largany, Seyedeh Fatemeh AD - Department of Clinical Psychology, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran. KW - Expressive art group therapy KW - Anxiety KW - Orphaned children UR - http://jpcp.uswr.ac.ir/article-1-147-en.html ER -