IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v9y2019i2p2158244019854646.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is There a Biofeedback Response to Art Therapy? A Technology-Assisted Approach for Reducing Anxiety and Stress in College Students

Author

Listed:
  • Megan E. Beerse
  • Theresa Van Lith
  • Gregg D. Stanwood

Abstract

College students are exposed to daily stressors throughout their academic careers, which can have lasting consequences to their health and well-being. Mindfulness practices, art therapy, and the simple act of manipulating clay have independently demonstrated positive effects on stress and anxiety, but there is little research on the feasibility of incorporating these into an online resource for students to proactively address their mental health. In this pilot study, full-time university students ( N = 15) were randomly assigned to a mindfulness-based art therapy (MBAT) program that used clay for all art directives or an unstructured, undirected neutral clay-manipulating task (NCT) for 10 weeks. Anxiety symptoms, salivary cortisol concentrations, and perceived levels of stress were assessed. Within-group analysis demonstrated significant decreases in anxiety symptoms and cortisol concentrations for MBAT participants, with no significant decrease in perceived stress. NCT participants experienced a significant decrease in cortisol concentrations on Week 1 but not on Week 10, with no other statistical significance in outcomes detected. Between-group analysis generated no significant interactions between variables. Based on these results, the structure of a therapist-directed online MBAT program using clay has the capacity to elicit anxiety-reducing benefits and may produce a trained biofeedback response for combating stress, offering a feasible strategy for addressing the mental health crisis on college campuses.

Suggested Citation

  • Megan E. Beerse & Theresa Van Lith & Gregg D. Stanwood, 2019. "Is There a Biofeedback Response to Art Therapy? A Technology-Assisted Approach for Reducing Anxiety and Stress in College Students," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(2), pages 21582440198, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:9:y:2019:i:2:p:2158244019854646
    DOI: 10.1177/2158244019854646
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2158244019854646
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2158244019854646?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eisenberg Daniel & Golberstein Ezra & Hunt Justin B, 2009. "Mental Health and Academic Success in College," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-37, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Biyun Zhang & Jingyao Chen & Xiaoyan Huang & Wenhao Xu, 2021. "Chinese Flower and Bird Painting: A New Form of Art Therapy for Depression," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nadia Nandlall & Lisa D. Hawke & Em Hayes & Karleigh Darnay & Mardi Daley & Jacqueline Relihan & Joanna Henderson, 2022. "Learning Through a Pandemic: Youth Experiences With Remote Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(3), pages 21582440221, September.
    2. Sarah Baird & Jacobus de Hoop & Berk Özler, 2013. "Income Shocks and Adolescent Mental Health," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 48(2), pages 370-403.
    3. Joanne M. Williams & Jillian Bradfield & Andrew Gardiner & Patricia Pendry & Laura Wauthier, 2024. "Co-Producing Paws on Campus: A Psychoeducational Dog-Facilitated Programme for University Students Experiencing Mental Health Difficulties," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(8), pages 1-21, August.
    4. Ertan Yörük, Ceren & Yörük, Barış K., 2012. "The impact of drinking on psychological well-being: Evidence from minimum drinking age laws in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(10), pages 1844-1854.
    5. Arulsamy, Karen & Delaney, Liam, 2022. "The impact of automatic enrolment on the mental health gap in pension participation: Evidence from the UK," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    6. Miller, Rebecca & Blakeslee, Jennifer & Ison, Chanel, 2020. "Exploring college student identity among young people with foster care histories and mental health challenges," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    7. Mehic, Adrian & Olofsson, Charlotta, 2021. "Get Rich or Fail Your Exam Tryin': Gender, Socioeconomic Status and Spillover Effects of Blended Learning," Working Papers 2021:8, Lund University, Department of Economics, revised 16 Oct 2022.
    8. Anger, Silke & Christoph, Bernhard & Galkiewicz, Agata & Margaryan, Shushanik & Peter, Frauke & Sandner, Malte & Siedler, Thomas, 2024. "War, international spillovers, and adolescents: Evidence from Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 181-193.
    9. Valerie Halstead & Jessica R Williams & Rosa Gonzalez‐Guarda, 2017. "Sexual violence in the college population: a systematic review of disclosure and campus resources and services," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(15-16), pages 2137-2153, August.
    10. Konrad T. Lisnyj & David L. Pearl & Jennifer E. McWhirter & Andrew Papadopoulos, 2021. "Exploration of Factors Affecting Post-Secondary Students’ Stress and Academic Success: Application of the Socio-Ecological Model for Health Promotion," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-21, April.
    11. Clotilde Mahé & Philipp Hessel, 2022. "School-age exposure to conditional cash transfers and adult mental health: Evidence from Mexico’s Progresa," Documentos de trabajo 20155, Escuela de Gobierno - Universidad de los Andes.
    12. Mushonga, Dawnsha R. & Henneberger, Angela K., 2024. "The Black-White paradox of mental health in college students," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    13. Mallory Avery & Jessica LaVoice, 2023. "The effect of “failed” community mental health centers on non‐white mortality," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(6), pages 1362-1393, June.
    14. Maria Kryza-Lacombe & Elise Tanzini & Sarah O’Neill, 2019. "Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives: Associations with Academic Achievement and Negative Emotional States Among Urban College Students," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(5), pages 1323-1341, June.
    15. Wang, Yue & Ma, Yue, 2024. "The Impact of healthcare service program on the mental health of migrant children in eastern China: Evidence from a cluster-randomized controlled trial," 2024 Annual Meeting, July 28-30, New Orleans, LA 343823, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    16. Dong Yang & Usaporn Swekwi & Xiao Dai & Chia Ching Tu, 2022. "Potential Implications of Optimism and Mental Health for the Independent Learning of Chinese University Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-12, August.
    17. Oreopoulos, Philip & Petronijevic, Uros & Logel, Christine & Beattie, Graham, 2020. "Improving non-academic student outcomes using online and text-message coaching," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 342-360.
    18. Ezra Golberstein & Daniel Eisenberg & Marilyn F. Downs, 2016. "Spillover Effects in Health Service Use: Evidence From Mental Health Care Using First‐Year College Housing Assignments," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(1), pages 40-55, January.
    19. Collins, Matthew & Lundstedt, Jonas, 2024. "The effects of more informative grading on student outcomes," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 218(C), pages 514-549.
    20. César Merino-Soto & Manuel Fernández-Arata & Jaime Fuentes-Balderrama & Guillermo M. Chans & Filiberto Toledano-Toledano, 2022. "Research Perceived Competency Scale: A New Psychometric Adaptation for University Students’ Research Learning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-17, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:9:y:2019:i:2:p:2158244019854646. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.