Özet:

The aim of this study was to evaluate online art group psychotherapy’s effects on university students’ personal and emotional awareness. Before online art therapy workshops continued for six weeks, preassessment tests about anxiety, depression and emotional self-awareness were applied to all participants. Findings were analyzed through a qualitative analysis method known as interpretative phenomenological analysis. The scales used for preassessment were Turkish version of “Emotional Self-Awareness Scale” and “Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale”. Qualitative data were obtained through participants’ responses to the open-ended questions presented in “Art Therapy Session Evaluation Survey” and “Group Period Evaluation Survey”. Participants were asked to evaluate personal impacts of each session and all of the sessions as a whole. According to emergent themes, the insight gained during art therapy workshops seem to have some impacts on personal awareness. Besides, the findings yielded that art group therapy workshops were associated with enhanced emotional awareness, emotional expression, and emotional regulation skills. On the basis of participants’ written feedbacks, some other positive impacts were also noted. These were opening up thanks to supportive group communication, feeling relaxed because of group sharing, identification with others in the group, gaining awareness and learning from the sharing.

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