Date of Award

Spring 5-2015

Document Type

Master's Project

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

EVMS School of Health Professions

Program/Concentration

Art Therapy and Counseling

Committee Director

Sarah Deaver

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia and causes problems with memory, behavior, and thinking. The symptoms of this progressive disease commonly develop slowly and worsen over time. Family members who are caring for individuals with Dementia of the Alzheimer’s type (DAT) experience significant burden that affects their psychological well-being. This may result in an increase in stress/anxiety and a decreased mood. In this mixed methods case study, six individual in-home art therapy sessions were conducted with one 80 year old woman who was caring for her husband who had DAT, in order to gain preliminary understanding of the effects of art therapy upon her perceived burden, stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. The sessions were tailored to the participant’s experiences and individual needs. The Zarit Burden Interview and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale were used as pre and post measures. At the conclusion of the treatment, a semi-structured interview was conducted with the participant and content analysis was performed to determine themes that emerged regarding the experience of the participant. Although scores from the DASS and ZBI increased from pretest to posttest, the participant identified art therapy as beneficial. Three main themes were identified. The themes included (a) increased coping skills, (b) the distraction art therapy provided, and (c) art therapy’s helpfulness. Based on the pre and post measures, implications for the practice of art therapy with this population were discussed.

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