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

Abstract

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.