Effects of Expressive Arts Program on Emotional Expression in People with Intellectual Disabilities: a Latent Profile Analysis

Abstract

Introduction: Expressing feelings and emotions is not easy among people with intellectual disabilities (ID), who are prone to behavioral and psychological problems. Expressive arts program integrates arts modalities such as visual arts, music, and dance/movement and could promote clients’ emotional expression. Research studies have suggested that use of color might relate to understanding and expression of emotions. The present study attempted to explore the effects of an expressive arts program on emotional expression among people with ID through analyzing the use of colors in their drawings. Research Design: This randomized controlled study randomized 109 adults with ID into the intervention or control group. The intervention consisted of 10 weekly 90-min expressive arts-based sessions. The participants completed the Face Stimulus Assessment, which is a viable means of extracting psychological information about emotional expressions, before and after the intervention. This arts-based assessment contained an outline of a half-drawn human face on a A4 paper and allowed the participant to project more information onto the image. The artworks were digitally scanned and latent profile analysis analyzed the pattern of color usage (i.e., number of colors used and ratio of colored area versus empty space). Results: The three most frequently used colors in the participants’ drawings were pink, blue, and black. The majority of the participants (86%) showed consistently low likelihoods of color usage in their pre-measurement drawings and the pattern of color usage did not differ between intervention and control groups. For the post-intervention drawings, two-fifth of the participants were classified into the “colorful subgroup” who were more likely to use the pink, purple, and blue colors and less likely to use the black color than the “pale subgroup”. Participants in the intervention group were more likely to belong to the colorful subgroup (odds ratio = 2.42, 95% CI = 0.93 – 6.34, p = 0.06). Conclusions: The current results suggest more vibrant use of colors in drawings, which indicates higher levels of emotional expressivity, among people with ID following the expressive arts program.