Psychosocial benefits of engaging in heritage arts practices in art therapy

Indigenous and traditional (heritage) arts practices have sustained over time to serve the creative and expressive psychosocial needs of communities. The potential therapeutic aspects of these long-standing practices to promote health and well-being are not well understood. This paper reports preliminary quantitative findings from a global multi-site within-subjects mixed methods research study examining the impact of heritage artforms on affect, anxiety, stress, self-efficacy, and creative agency to understand the physical and psychosocial benefits as applied to art therapy practice. The study participants (n = 54) engaged in two conditions: 1) self-selected preferred heritage art practice and 2) a puzzle task. All participants completed standardized pre and post measures before and after both sessions. Findings indicated that participants reported more positive affect (PA) and less negative affect (NA) after the heritage art task compared to the puzzle task. When interactions between time and task were examined, statistical significance was found for NA as well as anxiety, demonstrating that participants experienced more significant reductions in these areas in the heritage art task compared to the puzzle task. Engaging in heritage artforms may provide multiple psychosocial benefits which may support positive outcomes in art therapy practice.