Systematic Review of Empirical Evidence on Art Therapy with Traumatized Refugee Children and Youth

Abstract

Refugees may experience psychosocial difficulties due to many factors. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder is one of the common psychological disorders that are present among refugees who faced traumatic events. Art therapy is one intervention used in reducing PTSD symptoms since it provides a safe way to heal and gives children the space to express themselves. It is an intervention that has been developed to reduce traumatic symptoms and decrease anxiety levels. A systematic search of online databases was undertaken and different keywords were used in the research to explore the use of art therapy with refugee traumatized children and adolescents. The purpose of the study was to evaluate and synthesize the available research evidence for the use of art therapy in reducing PTSD levels or traumatic symptoms in refugees over the last ten years (2010-2020). It also aims at comparing different studies to identify evidence of the effectiveness of art therapy for the treatment of traumatized refugees. This paper review integrated the literature on the therapeutic application of art therapy with traumatized refugees. To address the systematic review aims and questions, the Council for Exceptional Children’s (CEC) guideline was used for quantitative analysis to (a) evaluate studies that report findings regarding the effectiveness of art therapy with traumatized refugees population; (b) identify processes that may influence the outcome; (c) synthesize and evaluate the processes mentioned across different findings; and (d) discuss the gap in the current state of literature and provides further considerations for further future investigation regarding the effectiveness of the use of art therapy with traumatized refugees. Initially, a total of 70 studies were identified for screening through systematic searches of databases and then 8 studies were evaluated after setting inclusion and exclusion criteria. Findings indicated that there was evidence that art therapy helped in decreasing traumatic symptoms but studies did not meet the indicator related to implementation fidelity and the indicator related to internal validity need to be enhanced in further studies. Therefore, it is recommended to conduct further intervention studies that meet the implementation fidelity and internal validity criteria.