Viewing and engaging in an art therapy exhibit by people living with mental illness: implications for empathy and social change.

OBJECTIVE: To determine how healthcare professionals, family members and community members responded to an art exhibit created by people living with mental illness. STUDY DESIGN: Phenomenological study with qualitative analysis. METHODS: Forty-six participants with various relationships with people living with mental illness attended an art therapy exhibit and art making workshop. Surveys, response art, reflective writing and discussion groups were used in this qualitative research study. RESULTS: Responses were categorized into four cluster themes: empathic, self-oriented, other-oriented and world-oriented. CONCLUSIONS: Each response category has strengths and weaknesses, indicating implications for increasing awareness and understanding of the artists and mental illness. They also inform educational interventions that can be utilized when using art exhibits for the purpose of confronting bias and stigma towards people living with mental illness.

Changes in breast cancer patients after psychosocial intervention as indicated in drawings.

OBJECTIVE: The present study attempts to understand the experience of breast cancer patients who had participated in an Eastern-based body-mind-spirit (BMS) psychosocial intervention program by observing changes in the images made by the patients. METHODS: Pre- and post-intervention drawings on the theme of 'my cancer' were collected from 67 primary breast cancer patients. Two creative art therapists compared the drawings according to the structural and formal art elements (body), the symbols used (mind), and the emotions and feelings presented in the drawings (spirit). Numbers of pre- and post-intervention drawings, showing the presence of each element in these three dimensions, were also counted and compared. RESULTS: There were several changes noted between pre- and post-intervention drawings. The use of color, space, and multiplicity increased from 12 to 17%. Images of breasts decreased from 13 to 0%. Representations of cancer decreased from 15 to 7%. There was a slight increase in symbolic representations of natural, landscapes, and social support in post-drawings (3-6%). The portrayal of negative emotions was greatly reduced from 52 to 3%, while positive emotions increased from 28 to 93% in post-drawings. CONCLUSIONS: The comparison of pre- and post-intervention drawings revealed changes in subject matter and accompanying emotions. Overall, there was a trend in changes toward a more peaceful and hopeful attitude. Through the use of realistic and symbolic images, participants depicted a range of emotions. Limitations and recommendations for using art-making, as an assessment tool and intervention, are addressed.

Comparison of P6 acupoint injection with 50% glucose in water and intravenous droperidol for prevention of vomiting after gynecological laparoscopy.

Postoperative vomiting causes patients distress and delays discharge after outpatient surgery. Although P6 electroacupuncture is recognized as having an antiemetic effect, its inconvenient instrumentation may limit its clinical applicability. The purpose of this study was to explore a simple and effective alternative method for control of postoperative vomiting in outpatient surgery. We prospectively compared the effect of P6 acupoint injection with 0.2 ml 50% glucose in water (G/W) and intravenous injection of 20 micrograms/kg droperidol for prevention of vomiting in 120 consecutive outpatients undergoing gynecological laparoscopy with general anesthesia. Patients were randomly allocated to receive P6 acupoint injection, i.v. droperidol, or nothing as control group. Both P6 acupoint injection and i.v. droperidol 20 micrograms/kg were found to have a significant antiemetic effect when compared with the control group. We conclude that P6 acupoint injection with 50% G/W is a simple and effective method for reducing the incidence of postoperative emesis in outpatient surgery.

Electro-acupuncture and postoperative emesis.

One hundred unpremedicated female patients of ASA grade 1 or 2 who underwent laparoscopy as outpatients were allocated randomly to one of four groups. All patients received general anaesthesia with fentanyl, thiopentone, halothane, nitrous oxide and oxygen; suxamethonium was given to facilitate tracheal intubation. In the recovery room, group 1 (control) received no treatment; group 2 received electro-acupuncture at the P6 point (Neiguan) on the right side for 15 minutes, group 3 received transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation at the P6 point on the right side for 15 minutes and group 4 received prochlorperazine 5 mg intravenously. Any act of vomiting, including dry retching, during the first 3 postoperative hours was regarded as postoperative emesis. The incidence of postoperative emesis was 11/25 (44%) in group 1, 3/25 (12%, p less than 0.05) in group 2, 9/25 (36%) in group 3, and 3/25 (12%, p less than 0.05) in group 4. Our results suggest that electro-acupuncture is as effective as prochlorperazine, and may be better than transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, in reducing postoperative emesis.