INFORMAL ART THERAPY GROUP AMONG MINORITY SENIORS IN INDEPENDENT LIVING COMMUNITIES

• Main Author: Rodriguez, Jennifer
• Format: Others
• Published: CSUSB ScholarWorks 2018
• Subjects: Art therapy; elderly population; low-income seniors; non-parametric test; pre-experimental design; service resistance; Social Work
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd/658; https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1754&context=etd

The elderly population have developed some resistance toward accepting community-based social services. Such resistance could be detrimental to the well-being of low-income seniors by hindering their chance of accessing services intended for them in the first place. Art therapy is seen as a promising intervention against client resistance. This study evaluated the effectiveness of art therapy on reducing resistance to services among low-income seniors living in independent living communities. Through a pre-experimental design, this study analyzed administrative data for a sample of 37 participants from a social service agency in Southern California. Results from two non-parametric tests (WilcoxonSigned-Rank and Mann-Whitney-U) revealed that art therapy is very effective in reducing resistance among seniors. Implications for gerontology and social services providers were discussed.