Date of Award
Spring 5-18-2019
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
MCM - MA Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Department
Expressive Therapies
Advisor
Kelvin Ramirez, PhD, ATR-BC, LCAT
Abstract
In recent years, technology in the form of digital applications (apps) has emerged as a fundamental aspect of everyday life as well as a practical, convenient, and inexpensive tool for artistic self-expression, most notably amongst children and adolescents. Ninety-eight percent of U.S. households currently possess some form of mobile device (Rideout, 2017), with an estimated 95% of U.S. teenagers ages 13 to 17 owning a Smartphone (Anderson & Jiang, 2018). As digital natives, children and adolescents are more likely to identify with and connect to these arts-based methods. Clinician perspective concerning digital integration varies across a wide spectrum. Through a critical review of the existing literature, this research investigated the current state of digital app technology within the field of Expressive Arts Therapies, as well as potential benefits and drawbacks to the integration of this artistic media. Expressive Arts Therapy is predicated on the multimodal nature of artistic forms. Modality-specific apps within art, music, and dance therapy disciplines have garnered encouraging findings; however, no authentic multimodal digital app currently exists. This research explored the intermodal possibilities of both singular modality apps as well as those quantitatively examined in other mental-health related fields. Additionally, recommendations and considerations are made surrounding future research and app development within an Expressive Arts Therapies framework.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Storjohann, Sarah, "Integrating Digital App Technologies within Traditional Expressive Arts Therapy for Children and Adolescents" (2019). Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses. 207.
https://digitalcommons.lesley.edu/expressive_theses/207
Included in
Art Therapy Commons, Child Psychology Commons, Counseling Psychology Commons, Counselor Education Commons, Digital Humanities Commons, Health Information Technology Commons, Other Communication Commons, Other Medicine and Health Sciences Commons, Other Mental and Social Health Commons, Other Psychology Commons
Rights
The author owns the copyright to this work.
