Art therapy helps cancer patients
3 January 2006
by Richard
Conan-Davies
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Art therapy can reduce a broad spectrum of symptoms related to pain and anxiety in cancer patients after spending an hour working on art projects of their choice. In the study at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, cancer patients reported great reductions in eight of nine symptoms measured by the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS) Fifty patients from the inpatient oncology unit were enrolled in the study over a four-month period. The ESAS scale allows patients to assess their symptoms of pain, tiredness, nausea, depression, anxiety, drowsiness, lack of appetite, well-being and shortness of breath. Nausea was the only symptom that did not change as due to the art therapy session but eight of these nine symptoms improved. Judith Paice, PhD, RN, director, Cancer Pain Program, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and an author on the study explained that "Cancer patients are increasingly turning to alternative and complementary therapies to reduce symptoms, improve quality of life and boost their ability to cope with stress," She explained in her study that "We wanted to see if the creative process involved in making art is healing and life-enhancing. Our study provides beginning evidence for the important role art therapy can play in reducing symptoms. Art therapy provides a distraction that allows patients to focus on something positive instead of their health for a time, and it also gives patients something they can control." The art therapy sessions were individualised and patients were offered a choice of subject matter and media. For those who couldn't use their hands or weren't comfortable using art materials, the art therapist would do the art making under the patients direction. Sometimes the art therapsit would look at and discuss photographic images that were assembled into a book for patients. Some patients made the comment that the sessions had energized them. |
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