An Investigation into Art Therapy Aided Health and Well-Being Research: A 75-Year Bibliometric Analysis

Zhen Liu, Zulan Yang, Chang Xiao, Ke Zhang and Mohamed Osmani
Additional contact information
Zhen Liu: School of Design, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Zulan Yang: School of Design, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Chang Xiao: School of Design, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Ke Zhang: School of Design, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Mohamed Osmani: School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 19, issue 1, 1-27

Abstract: Considering the physical, and psychological impacts and challenges brought about the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), art therapy (AT) provides opportunities to promote human health and well-being. There are few systematic analysis studies in the fields of AT, which can provide content and direction for the potential value and impact of AT. Therefore, this paper aims to critically analyze the published work in the field of AT from the perspective of promoting health and well-being, and provides insights into current research status, hotspots, limitations, and future development trends of AT. This paper adopts a mixed method of quantitative and qualitative analysis including bibliometric analysis and keyword co-occurrence analysis. The results indicate that: (1) the current studies on AT are mostly related to research and therapeutic methods, types of AT, research populations and diseases, and evaluation of therapeutic effect of AT. The research method of AT mainly adopts qualitative research, among which creative arts therapy and group AT are common types of AT, and its main research populations are children, veterans, and adolescents. AT-aided diseases are trauma, depression, psychosis, dementia, and cancer. In addition, the therapeutic methods are mainly related to psychotherapy, drama, music, and dance/movement. Further, computer systems are an important evaluation tool in the research of AT; (2) the future development trend of AT-aided health and well-being based on research hotspots, could be focused on children, schizophrenia, well-being, mental health, palliative care, veterans, and the elderly within the context of addressing COVID-19 challenges; and (3) future AT-aided health and well-being could pay more attention to innovate and integrate the therapeutic methods of behavior, movement, and technology, such as virtual reality and remote supervision.

Keywords: art therapy; bibliometric analysis; co-occurrence analysis; health and well-being; therapeutic method; children; adolescent; elderly; psychotherapy; virtual reality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/232/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/232/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2021:i:1:p:232-:d:711374

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().