Strokes of Strength: An Expressive Arts-based Intervention with Adolescents

Abstract

In order to explore how adolescents who have been affected by traumaticexperiences would respond to an expressive arts-based intervention, amodule was designed, implemented and its effect on certain behavioraland emotional constructs was evaluated. The sample included 10 femaleadolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 who underwent a 2-month longgroup expressive arts therapy in their institutional home, namely, PrayasJuveline Aid Centre, New Delhi, India. The tools which were used toassess the changes in the pre – post intervention scores in self – reportedbehavioral and emotional difficulties were: The Youth Self Report Form(YSR Form 11-18, CBCL; ASEBA, 2001) and the ‘Severity of Post –Traumatic Stress Scale’ (NSESSS; APA, 2013). The tools used to assessthe changes in the pre – post intervention ratings of the caregiver were,the ‘DSM – 5 Parent / Guardian Rated Level 1 Cross Cutting SymptomMeasure’ (APA, 2013) and the ‘Caregiver’s Observation Checklist:Children at – risk’ (WCCL, 2013). The results revealed that 4-weekexpressive arts -based intervention elicited a statistically significantdifference in the self – reported behavioural and emotional difficultiesby the participants. The verbatim reports, diary excerpts and paintings ofthe participants were qualitatively analysed. In future, there is room toinvestigate how an intervention with a longer duration and a representativesample would explain the effectiveness of expressive – arts-based therapywith such populations.