The effectiveness of expressive arts therapy (ExAT) on the improvement of employees’ wellbeing in elderly home

Abstract

 This study examines the effectiveness of Expressive Arts Therapy (ExAT) on improving employees’ wellbeing. The multimodal art approach in ExAT offered creative experiences to participants as a soft intervention. It provided an alternative way to communicate and enhance verbal communication. It also conveyed relevant issues and problems within limited time. I used the Expressive Therapies Continuum (ETC) as a framework to guide the goals, design, and assessment of intervention workshops for the employees in an elderly home in Hong Kong. In this study, all participants attended an introductory ExAT workshop and participated a questionnaire survey. Based on a two-time-wave survey conducted in the elderly home, the study found that ExAT was an effective tool to decrease negative mood of the participants. It also has the potential to increase happiness and promote employees-experienced feelings of work meaningfulness. Hong Kong is well-known as a high stress and fast-paced city. Employees working and living in stressful place may lack of the opportunity to identify and express their emotions and thoughts. Art creation is an effective and alternative way to enhance employees’ sense of wellbeing. In recent decades, ExAT has increased its popularity in the United States and Europe; but it is still alien to most people in Hong Kong. I intended to demonstrate that the power of arts can be experienced by everyone and ExAT can effectively improve employees’ wellbeing.