gms | German Medical Science

Art therapy is a nonverbal treatment approach that is increasingly used to improve quality of life and well-being related to trauma, illness, and treatment experiences. It is already used as supportive treatment in rehabilitative cancer care. This study aims to assess the feasibility and acceptability of eight-week online art therapy in acute cancer care at the University Hospital Bonn. The focus of the outcome measures is the well-being of breast cancer patients. The study has a randomized single factorial control group design, comparing the control group (n=6) (TAU) to the intervention group (n=6) (online art therapy session). Pre- and post- measurements include symptoms of anxiety, depression, and quality of life. Distress, the feeling of happiness and the experience of beauty are measured before and after every art therapy session in the intervention group. The incorporated questionnaires are EORTC C30, WHO BREF, POMS, HADS and a distress thermometer. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests are used to test changes in measurements for both groups. Further, Mann-Whitney-U Tests are applied to check differences in baseline values. Descriptive statistics and difference scores are described for the analysis of results. Results show that the eight weeks of online art therapy did not significantly improve the patients' well-being. However, descriptive statistics show trends in a positive direction for nearly all measurements. According to the difference scores, patients experience a decrease in anxiety and distress and a partly increase in QoL (EORTC C30, WHO BREF), their perception of beauty, and their feeling of happiness. The acceptance of the online therapy is rated as very good. Even though online art therapy is still developing, this study shows that it can help breast cancer patients to increase their well-being and better cope with their life situation.