Logo image
Back
Transformation in the emerging professional identity while working with adults who have chronic mental illness: an art-based heuristic inquiry
Thesis   Open access

Transformation in the emerging professional identity while working with adults who have chronic mental illness: an art-based heuristic inquiry

Yu En Chiu
Master of Arts (M.A.), Drexel University
Dec 2014
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/etd-6145
pdf
Chiu_Yu_20141.80 MBDownloadView
PDF Open Access Open Access (License Unspecified)

Abstract

Art therapy
The purpose of this arts-based heuristic inquiry was to explore the transformational process in an art therapy intern's emerging professional identity while working with adults diagnosed with chronic mental illness. Incorporating Moustakas' systematic process of heuristic inquiry with the use of art making and journal writing as methods of gathering data, the researcher sought to comprehend her experience and its influence on her professional identity in this arts-based heuristic research. Due to the nature of the study, the researcher was the only subject in this research. Data collection for this research lasted for the 29 weeks that the researcher interned at a long term, intensive outpatient setting. Upon thorough reflection, examination and analysis, the researcher uncovered themes pertaining to her experience from visual and written data collections. Themes that emerged from the artworks were containment, nature and organic forms, relational movement, and brightness of color. Themes that emerged from the journal entries were relational process, self confidence, developing self-awareness, validation of professional self, expectation of self, and positivity. Results demonstrated that while the themes from both data collection were similar, the content that each data focused on were subtly different and allowed for a broader perspective on the researcher's experience.

Metrics

42 File views/ downloads
25 Record Views

Details

Logo image