Division of Hospice Palliative Care, Departments of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Palliat Support Care. 2012 Mar;10(1):51-7. doi: 10.1017/S1478951511000587.
Even though terminal cancer patients receive help from a hospice palliative care team, they have to suffer the pressure of death with deteriorating conditions. This study aims to evaluate the effect of art therapy for these terminal cancer patients.
The patients involved were terminal cancer patients who were under the care of team members, which included physicians, nurses, social workers, clergy, art therapists, and volunteers in a hospice palliative care unit in Taiwan. The art therapy in our study took the form of visual fine art appreciation and hands-on painting. The effects of the art therapy were evaluated according to patients' feelings, cognitions, and behaviors.
There were 177 patients (105 males and 72 females; mean age: 65.4 ±15.8 years) in the study. Each patient received a mean of 2.9 ± 2.0 sessions of the art therapy and produced a mean of 1.8 ± 2.6 pieces of art. During the therapy, most patients described their feelings well, and created art works attentively. Patients expressed these feelings through image appreciation and hands-on painting, among which the landscape was the most common scene in their art. After the therapy, the mean score of patients' artistic expressions (one point to each category: perception of beauty, art appreciation, creativity, hands-on artwork, and the engagement of creating artwork regularly) was 4.0 ± 0.7, significantly higher than the score before therapy (2.2 ± 1.4, p < 0.05). During the therapy, 70% of patients felt much or very much relaxed in their emotional state and 53.1% of patients felt much or very much better physically.
Terminal cancer patients in a hospice palliative care unit in Taiwan may benefit from art therapy through visual art appreciation and hands-on creative artwork.
尽管终末期癌症患者接受了临终关怀团队的帮助，但他们仍需在病情恶化的情况下承受死亡的压力。本研究旨在评估艺术疗法对这些终末期癌症患者的影响。
本研究纳入的患者均为在台湾一家临终关怀病房中接受团队成员（包括医生、护士、社工、神职人员、艺术治疗师和志愿者）照顾的终末期癌症患者。我们的研究中的艺术疗法采用视觉美术欣赏和动手绘画的形式。根据患者的感受、认知和行为来评估艺术疗法的效果。
本研究共纳入 177 例患者（男 105 例，女 72 例；平均年龄：65.4±15.8 岁）。每位患者接受了平均 2.9±2.0 次的艺术疗法，创作了平均 1.8±2.6 件艺术作品。在治疗过程中，大多数患者能够很好地表达自己的感受，并专心创作艺术作品。患者通过图像欣赏和动手绘画来表达这些感受，其中风景是他们艺术作品中最常见的场景。治疗后，患者艺术表达评分（每个类别 1 分：美感感知、艺术欣赏、创造力、动手作品、定期创作作品的投入度）的平均值为 4.0±0.7，显著高于治疗前的 2.2±1.4（p<0.05）。在治疗过程中，70%的患者在情绪上感到非常放松或放松很多，53.1%的患者在身体上感觉非常好或好很多。
台湾临终关怀病房的终末期癌症患者可能通过视觉艺术欣赏和动手创作艺术从中受益。
