The Effect of Art Therapy through Using Color Activities on the Level of Happiness in Children Suffering from Cancer

The function of Art Therapy is the simplification of positive changes like happiness with communicating to a therapist by implementing artistic elements in a safe atmosphere. It is worth mentioning that, one of the illnesses with intense negative effects, particularly on children is cancer; as a result, the goal of this research was to study the effect of expressive art therapy on children with cancer ranging in age from 6-10 years old.

This research was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design. The sample consisted of 30 children with cancer from Isfahan in 2017, selected by convenience sampling method and randomly assigned to the experimental (n=15) and control groups (n=15). The experimental group received color therapy for 15 sessions, while the control group did not receive any. To gather data the children's happiness scale (Morgan, 2014) has been utilized. Data were analyzed by ANCOVA using SPSS-22 software.

The results showed that there was a significant difference between the experimental and the control group in Happy Thought and Happy mood (p<0/05).

We can conclude that art activities that incorporate color and emphasize the release of negative emotions improve the happiness of children with cancer, and this can be recommended as a proper form of treatment for children with cancer.