Tucker Sarah, Luetz Johannes M
Uniting Care Prison Ministry, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
Griffith University, Mount Gravatt Campus, QLD, Australia.
Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol. 2025 Jan;69(1):119-144. doi: 10.1177/0306624X231165350. Epub 2023 May 8.
Art therapy in prisons remains widely under-researched in Australia and beyond and represents a major gap in the literature. Despite evidence that art therapy can be a tool for social change, to date, there are no recorded studies in Australia which have investigated the therapeutic benefits of art in prison populations with measured outcomes. Literary analysis suggests that research tends to be hampered by limitations in methodological approaches that are suited to prison environments. By engaging "inside" with inmates over the course of an 8-week art therapy program, this research design addresses this knowledge gap. Building on 5 years of piloting, the research methodological design presented in this paper embodies a prototype that promises to overcome the limitations of previous research approaches. This research agenda promises to facilitate creative interventions through sensitively attuned art therapy delivery. Benefits are expected to accrue to diverse stakeholder groups, including inmates, chaplaincy and parole services, voluntary facilitators, policymakers, criminologists, and taxpayers, among others.
在澳大利亚及其他国家，监狱中的艺术疗法仍未得到广泛研究，这在文献中是一个重大空白。尽管有证据表明艺术疗法可以成为社会变革的工具，但迄今为止，澳大利亚尚无记录在案的研究调查过艺术对监狱人群的治疗益处及可衡量的结果。文献分析表明，研究往往受到适合监狱环境的方法论方法的限制。通过在为期8周的艺术疗法项目过程中与囚犯进行“内部”接触，本研究设计填补了这一知识空白。基于5年的试点经验，本文提出的研究方法论设计体现了一个有望克服以往研究方法局限性的原型。这一研究议程有望通过精心调整的艺术疗法实施来促进创造性干预。预计包括囚犯、牧师和假释服务机构、志愿促进者、政策制定者、犯罪学家以及纳税人等在内的不同利益相关者群体都将从中受益。
