Child Abuse by his/her parents affects the formation and the development of child's self--esteem. As a child copies the aggressive behaviors of his/her parents, his/her aggression increases. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to present one way t...
Child Abuse by his/her parents affects the formation and the development of child's self--esteem. As a child copies the aggressive behaviors of his/her parents, his/her aggression increases. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to present one way to help the abused child to adapt and develop normally through the art group therapy.
The research questions of this study are as follows:
First, what is the effect of the art group therapy on the abused children's self-esteem?
Second, what is the effect of the art group therapy on the abused children's aggression?
The subject of this study is 5 children in the Child Welfare Institution in S city.
The children's behaviors were observed by a therapist and their guardians and these datum were analyzed qualitatively. The instruments used for this study by auxiliary datum are HTP test and the Self-Esteem Scale developed by Cooper Smith and translated by Kim Kung Yeon, the Aggression Scale developed by Buss & Perry and translated by Jung dong Wha. The statistic analysis program SPSS 12.0 was used for analyzing the collected datum in the Dependent t-test.
The major finds of this study were as follows:
First, as the sessions progressed, the children opened up their minds and became to have more confidence in themselves. The supportive behaviors for the other people increased while the behaviors of acting-out decreased.
Second, the children's drawings of trees and persons were changed affirmatively. Their drawings of trees changed to bigger, stronger, and in full leaves. Their drawings of persons also changed to happy and healthy.
Third, the guardians of children reported that the children's behaviors positively changed after all sessions of the art group therapy.
Fourth, according to the Dependent t-test, the art group therapy increased the degree of the children's self-esteem and decreased the degree of their aggression.
After putting all the results of this study together, it shows that the art group therapy positively affected the improvement of self-esteem and the decrease of aggression of abused children.
This study is differentiated from previous studies of art group therapy in two ways. Like most of other studies, in this study, art materials were used for the children, so that they could express themselves comfortably. Unlike other studies, on the other hand, (1) children chose art materials on their own and (2) they participated in making decision. of each session's theme. Most of studies of art group therapy used the program where art materials and themes are usually predetermined by a therapist on the basis of art therapy theories. However, a program provided by a therapist might limit children's independent thinking and expressions. In this regard, this study has taken a. different approach as an alternative method to help abused children.