Malboeuf-Hurtubise Catherine, Léger-Goodes Terra, Mageau Geneviève A, Taylor Geneviève, Herba Catherine M, Chadi Nicholas, Lefrançois David
Department of Psychology, Bishop's University, 2600 College St., Sherbrooke, QC, J1M 1Z7, Canada.
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada.
Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health. 2021 Mar 6;15(1):15. doi: 10.1186/s13034-021-00367-5.
Emerging literature on the current COVID-19 crisis suggests that children may experience increased anxiety and depression as a result of the pandemic. To prevent such school and mental health-related problems, there is a timely need to develop preventive strategies and interventions to address potential negative impacts of COVID-19 on children's mental health, especially in school settings. Results from previous child clinical research indicate that art-based therapies, including mindfulness-based art therapy, have shown promise to increase children's well-being and reduce psychological distress.
The goal of the present pilot and feasibility study was to compare the impact of an emotion-based directed drawing intervention and a mandala drawing intervention, on mental health in elementary school children (N = 22), in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both interventions were group-based and delivered online and remotely. A pilot study using a randomized cluster design was implemented to evaluate and compare both interventions in relation to child anxiety, depression, inattention and hyperactivity symptoms.
Analyses of covariance revealed a significant effect of the type of drawing intervention on levels of inattention, after controlling for baseline levels. Participants in the emotion-based directed drawing group showed lower inattention scores at post-test, when compared to participants in the mandala group. Post-hoc sensitivity analyses showed significant decreases in pre-to-post scores for levels of hyperactivity for the complete sample.
Overall, results from this pilot and feasibility study showed that both an emotion-based directed drawing intervention and a mandala drawing intervention may be beneficial to improve mental health in elementary school children, in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic. From a feasibility standpoint, results indicate that the implementation of both interventions online and remotely, through a videoconference platform, is feasible and adequate in school-based settings. Further work incorporating larger sample sizes, longitudinal data and ensuring sufficient statistical power is warranted to evaluate the long-term impact of both interventions on children's mental health.
关于当前新冠疫情的最新文献表明，儿童可能因疫情而出现焦虑和抑郁情绪增加的情况。为预防此类与学校和心理健康相关的问题，迫切需要制定预防策略和干预措施，以应对新冠疫情对儿童心理健康的潜在负面影响，尤其是在学校环境中。先前儿童临床研究的结果表明，包括正念艺术疗法在内的基于艺术的疗法，有望提升儿童的幸福感并减轻心理困扰。
本试点及可行性研究的目的是，在新冠疫情背景下，比较基于情绪的定向绘画干预和曼陀罗绘画干预对小学生（N = 22）心理健康的影响。两种干预均以小组形式进行，并通过在线远程方式实施。采用随机整群设计进行试点研究，以评估和比较两种干预在儿童焦虑、抑郁、注意力不集中和多动症状方面的效果。
协方差分析显示，在控制基线水平后，绘画干预类型对注意力不集中程度有显著影响。与曼陀罗绘画组的参与者相比，基于情绪的定向绘画组的参与者在测试后注意力不集中得分更低。事后敏感性分析显示，整个样本的多动水平从测试前到测试后的得分有显著下降。
总体而言，本试点及可行性研究的结果表明，在当前新冠疫情背景下，基于情绪的定向绘画干预和曼陀罗绘画干预都可能有助于改善小学生的心理健康。从可行性角度来看，结果表明通过视频会议平台在线远程实施这两种干预在学校环境中是可行且充分的。有必要开展进一步的工作，纳入更大的样本量、纵向数据并确保足够的统计效力，以评估这两种干预对儿童心理健康的长期影响。
