Date of Award

Fall 12-2005

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

EVMS School of Health Professions

Program/Concentration

Art Therapy

Committee Director

Sarah Deaver

Committee Member

Josie Abbenante

Committee Member

Patricia Shull

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to further the research of human figure drawings as useful assessment tools and add to the understanding of children’s human figure drawings from a cross-cultural perspective.

In this quantitative study, 147 human figure drawings made by 59 hearing and 64 hearing-impaired Taiwanese children and 24 hearing-impaired American children were collected. In addition, 50 drawings done by hearing American children were randomly chosen from the children’s drawing database of Eastern Virginia Medical School Graduate Art Therapy Program. Five Formal Elements Art Therapy Scales (FEATS) scales were modified for use with human figure drawings and were used to score the amount of color, realistic use of color, space used, developmental level per Lowenfeld’s stages, and details in the drawings.

In both countries, the hearing-impaired children were slightly older than the hearing children. Across countries, no significant differences were found between hearing Taiwanese and American children’s mean scores or between hearing-impaired Taiwanese and American children’s mean scores. Within each country, scale scores were compared by hearing capacity. In Taiwan, hearing-impaired children scored significantly lower than the hearing children on Scales 4 and 5. In the United States, hearing-impaired children scored significantly lower than the hearing children on Scales 2 and 3. These differences were discussed in terms of deaf children’s unique way of processing information; the children’s drawings as expressions of their experiences in their school, culture, or environment; the hearing-impaired children’s reliance upon pencils with erasers; and the impact of certain criteria on the modified FEATS scales.

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DOI

10.25777/s1z4-e591

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