Interventions Of A Study: Ezell And Levy, 2003)

Two studies (Anderson & Overy, 2010; Ezell & Levy, 2003) included multiple forms of art interventions including visual arts, creative writing, murals, wood sculpture, graphic design, music, poetry, photography, drama, cartoon art, collage and papier mâché. Both of these studies include pre and post assessments one with a control and one with no control. Sessions lasted 8 weeks (Anderson & Overy, 2010) or for the duration of a participant’s stay (Ezell & Levy, 2003). Ezell and Levy (2003) found that the length of time in a particular program, regardless of the program, was the greatest in indicator of changes in self-esteem and self-confidence. Anderson and Overy (2010) noted changes in behavior, anger, depression and self-confidence in both …show more content…
A majority of studies had sample sizes that were too small on the whole and additional studies had larger sizes, but were not large enough considering the transient nature of incarceration settings and the lack of structure allow all participants to attend every session. For example, Daveson & Edwards (2001) had just 7 participants in their study, while Gold et al. (2014) had 113, but lost many participants throughout the course of the study, resulting in participants receiving on average 5.27 sessions of music therapy when a total of 10 sessions were offered. Other studies had strict rules (e.g. prohibiting a participant from participating in the program after one missed session) which further resulted in a loss due to follow up. Ezell & Levy (2003) did have adequate tracking measures in their various programs, which in total lasted 3 years, and did not adequately separate the effectiveness of each …show more content…
Several recommendations for the future of both evaluating arts-based treatment and conducting arts-based treatment have emerged. Social scientists should utilize better study design measures to ensure studies are both valid and reliable. Importantly, this includes larger sample sizes. Furthermore, additional information is needed on the long term impacts of arts-based therapy with follow up studies. Follow up studies should also include experimental groups that have received “boosters” of arts-based therapy sessions. Study designs should include additional program opportunities due to the lack of routine within prisons and jails which often resulted in participants missing sessions due to circumstances beyond their control. Lastly, more work is needed in identifying if arts-based therapies used in tandem with other interventions can enhance