The effectiveness of art therapy on behavioral and emotional problems among poor caregiver

Poor caregiver in children associate with severs behavioral and emotional problems. Current study investigates the effectiveness of art therapy on externalized and internalized problems in children with poor caregiver. This research is a quasi-experimental study with pre and post- tests. The 21 subjects were selected from two family canters in Tehran. They were assigned randomly to the control and experimental groups. Art therapy was conducted with the experimental group during 10 sessions (90 min for each session per week) and the control group did not receive any interventions. Then the Child behavior checklist questionnaire (Achenbach) was administered at post-test and pretest in two groups. Statistical analysis was conducted by using the analysis of variance. The results of analysis of covariance showed that there is a significant decrease in internalizing problems including; irritability, anxiety/depression, isolation and physical symptoms, and externalizing problems such as; aggression in experimental groups (p<0.05). Regarding the findings of present research, it seems that art therapy can be utilized as an effective and efficient therapeutic intervention to diminish the behavioral and emotional problems in children with poor caregiver.