Effectiveness of painting art therapy on fatigue of children with cancer undergoing chemotherapy: A randomized trial

Fatigue is the most common and annoying complaint in patients undergoing chemotherapy Therefore, it seems necessary to implement low-risk and low-cost methods such as art therapy to control fatigue in children with cancer. The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of painting art therapy on the fatigue of children with cancer undergoing chemotherapy.

This clinical trial study was carried out on 65 children with cancer who were admitted to a teaching hospital in Isfahan for chemotherapy. The samples were randomly assigned to two groups: intervention group (n = 32) and the control group (n =33). Children in the intervention group did free drawing for 6 sessions. The data before and after the intervention were collected by using the multidimensional scale of children fatigue.  The data were analyzed by SPSS version 16 software using descriptive and inferential statistical tests.

There was no significant difference in fatigue score between the intervention group 73.41) ±8.81) and the control group 68.11 ±)10.51) at baseline (P=0.53). The t-test showed that the mean fatigue in children was significantly decreased in the intervention group 62.21 (±12.23) as compared to the control group 70.02 )±10.61) (P<0.001). The paired t-test also showed that the mean fatigue score in children in the intervention group 62.21 )12.23) compared to baseline 73.41 ±)8.81) significantly decreased (P<0.001).

The findings of the study showed that painting can have a significant effect on reducing the fatigue of children with cancer undergoing chemotherapy.