Impact of Dance Movement Psychotherapy on the wellbeing of caregivers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

OBJECTIVES: Sustaining the wellbeing of caregivers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can be highly demanding. This study explored the impact of Dance Movement Psychotherapy (DMP) intervention on the wellbeing of caregivers in comparison with their standard care routine. STUDY DESIGN: This pilot evaluation study used a quasi-experimental design. METHODS: Thirty-seven caregivers of children with ASD were recruited from two special educational needs settings and were allocated to the DMP intervention or the control group depending on their availability to attend the sessions. The participants in the intervention group received five DMP sessions lasting 90 min each. Adult Wellbeing Scale (AWS) and Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF) were the two outcome measures administered before and after DMP to measure the impact of DMP intervention on caregivers' wellbeing and parental stress. RESULTS: The retention rates were poor, with only 50% of participants in the DMP intervention arm attending at least 70% of the sessions until its end. The Minimal Clinically Important Difference (MCID) was achieved for a small effect size in both outcome measures in the DMP intervention group but not in the control group. Results from the Analyses of Covariance (ANCOVAs) showed a significant difference in post-intervention scores between the DMP intervention and the control group for AWS (F1,33 = 106.474, P < 0.001) but not for PSI-SF. In addition, a significant association was found between pre-intervention scores and the number of sessions attended with the postintervention scores of both AWS and PSI-SF. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this pilot DMP study are promising. However, before running a larger randomised controlled trial, strategies to support caregivers to attend the intervention need to be considered carefully.

Arts for the Blues - a new creative psychological therapy for depression: a pilot workshop report.

INTRODUCTION: Research over the last decade has identified both strengths and limitations in the use of routinely prescribed psychological therapies for depression. More recently, a focus on how creative art therapies and 'arts on prescription' are developing a growing recognition of their potential additional therapeutic mechanisms for depression. AIM: In an attempt to develop a new therapeutic intervention for depression, this research aligned both the evidence base surrounding the arts on prescription movement, collating these with client-reported helpful factors and preferences for therapeutic interventions. METHODS: We developed a framework for a new pluralistic 'meta-approach' of therapy for depression, based on; an interdisciplinary thematic synthesis of active ingredients, considered specific features implemented in therapy, and client-reported helpful factors considered to be the broad features or experiences in therapy from both talking therapies and creative approaches. This framework contributed to the development of a pilot workshop entitled Arts for the Blues - A New Creative Psychological Therapy for Depression. An outline of, and evaluation from this workshop is presented in this article. Workshop participants were recruited via a voluntary workshop taking place at a North West Higher Education Institution Arts and Health conference ( N = 15). RESULTS: The workshop was evaluated using quantitative measures, with results indicating around a 70% overall satisfaction, followed up with qualitative commentary around areas of good practice and areas for development. These included the positive reflection on the application of creative arts and the multimodal nature of the approach, while others reflected on the potential overwhelming nature of utilising multimodal methods for individuals with depression. CONCLUSION: Overall feedback from the pilot workshop is discussed in relation to prior research, giving credence to the potential for incorporating arts into therapy.