A grounded theory study of therapists' perceptions of expressive art therapy with grieving children

The purpose in this study is to investigate, from the therapist's perspective, how the expressive art therapy process benefits grieving children using grounded theory methodology. Based on contemporary research (Bowlby, 1980) it can be concluded that children do understand death and thus grieve. However, the level of understanding that children have about death depends on the child's intellectual, emotional, and social maturity. Despite the large number of grieving children in society today, attention paid to the treatment of the bereaved children has been limited. Therefore, many questions regarding the process and the effectiveness of interventions for bereaved children remain. Furthermore, the use of expressive arts to communicate the emotional experience of a child nonverbally has received minimal attention. The literature on expressive arts therapy is extremely sparse, and little is known about what actually occurs in the therapeutic process with expressive arts therapy that facilitates positive outcomes. The participants consisted of a sample of 10 to 12 women and men who are practicing therapists that use expressive art techniques while working with bereaved children. Each participant participated in a semi-structured tape-recorded telephone interview. The researcher then transcribed the interview and code for significant content. Questions asked of the participants focused on their clinical observation and perceptions of the process of using expressive art techniques with grieving children. The study was the first study to explore the relationship between the use of expressive art therapy in therapy with grieving children. Also, this study identified outcomes and benefits of using expressive art therapy in grief work with children. Finally, this study revealed that despite the therapists' theoretical orientation and the artistic modality chosen, the goals for treatment were similar.