Pottery as Art Therapy with Elderly Nursing Home Residents

Abstract

An art therapy intervention using an eight-session pottery class based on the Eastern Method throwing technique was implemented with 20 elderly nursing home residents, with the aim of improving their psychological well-being. Quantitative evaluation was based on Hebl and Enright (1993) and employed a quasi-experimental design measuring the participants' self-esteem, depression, and anxiety compared with 20 nonparticipating elderly residents of the nursing home. Qualitative evaluation included client self-evaluations, case progress notes, journal notes, and photographs. Following the intervention, the participating group showed significantly improved measures of self-esteem, and reduced depression and anxiety at posttest relative to the comparison group. Implications for art therapy intervention with institutionalized elderly and further research are discussed.