Browsing by Person "Watts, Patricia"

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Art Therapy and Poverty: A Study of the Alignment of Practices and Therapeutic Goals of Art Therapists working in Contexts of Multiple Deprivation in Scotland
(Queen Margaret University, 2016) Watts, Patricia
Background: The impact that poverty can have on children and young people (CYP) is pervasive and can affect their emotional wellbeing, educational attainment, future life chances and can put pressure on family relationships. It is known that the impact of poverty can also create a number of barriers to CYP and families accessing services that aim to promote their well-being. Furthermore, structural factors such as current welfare cuts and austerity measures on public services mean that professionals working with people affected by poverty will have to 'do more with less'. Practitioners could fail to acknowledge this if they have little experience of poverty through their professional discourses and training. This could reinforce barriers, create a social distance between service-users and practitioners and a misalignment of assessment of priorities which could lead to inappropriate interventions being offered. Aims: This study gathered the views of 10 Art Therapists working in areas of multiple deprivation with the aim of examining their perspectives and experiences of poverty and how it is explored - if at all - within their professional practice. Also examined is the impact that working in a context of multiple deprivation has - if any - upon (i) what constitutes 'therapy' and (ii) the practices of the art therapist. Methodology: The inclusion criteria for participants was that they were qualified art therapists working with CYP in West Central Scotland (WCS) in an area of Multiple Deprivation (MD) as determined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). The principle data collection method consisted of semi-structured interviews, and supplementary contextualising data was gathered via fieldwork in order to make observations of the context, settings and localities where participants worked. Reflexivity was also used to process personal and professional feelings regarding the data gleaned from interviews and fieldwork. The data was analysed using thematic analysis that took a general inductive approach to generating themes. This was then triangulated with the other data gathered to enhance the validity of emergent themes. Methodology: The inclusion criteria for participants was that they were qualified art therapists working with CYP in West Central Scotland (WCS) in an area of Multiple Deprivation (MD) as determined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). The principle data collection method consisted of semi-structured interviews, and supplementary contextualising data was gathered via fieldwork in order to make observations of the context, settings and localities where participants worked. Reflexivity was also used to process personal and professional feelings regarding the data gleaned from interviews and fieldwork. The data was analysed using thematic analysis that took a general inductive approach to generating themes. This was then triangulated with the other data gathered to enhance the validity of emergent themes.
Art therapy and poverty: Examining practitioners’ experiences of working with children and young people in areas of multiple deprivation in West Central Scotland
(Taylor & Francis, 2017-11-21) Gilfillan, Paul; Hills de Zárate, Margaret; Watts, Patricia
Poverty can have a detrimental impact on the emotional well-being, educational attainment and future life chances of children and young people (CYP). It is known that poverty can also create several barriers to CYP and families accessing services. Furthermore, structural factors such as spending cuts on public services mean that professionals working with people affected by poverty have to ‘do more with less’. Practitioners could fail to acknowledge the impact of poverty if they have little cultural experience of poverty through their professional discourses and training. This could create a social distance between service-users and practitioners, as well as a misalignment of priorities, which could lead to inappropriate interventions being offered and opportunities missed to tackle the impact of poverty. This study gathered the views of 10 Art Therapists working in areas of multiple deprivation as determined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) in West Central Scotland. The aim was to examine practitioner’s perspectives on poverty and what they notice about its exploration by CYP in art therapy sessions. The study also considered if art therapists working in areas of multiple deprivation adapted their practice to create a contextualised and flexible service that would address the practical as well as the emotional impact of poverty. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic analysis. Whilst most participants showed an awareness of the difficulties faced by CYP affected by poverty, there was evidence that there were numerous cultural barriers meaning the indicators of poverty could be missed by some practitioners. Despite this, participants were clear on the various ways poverty is explored in sessions by CYP. Some art therapists adapted their practice on occasions to address the practical impact of poverty. However, several art therapists faced structural barriers to being able to tackle poverty. Therefore, the data suggests that cultural and structural barriers made it difficult for practitioners working in areas of multiple deprivation to consistently adapt their practice to create a contextualised and flexible service that fully addresses the emotional and the practical impact of poverty.