Developing an evidence base for the use of Art Psychotherapy within an inpatient perinatal mental health service

A variety of acute mental health symptoms and resulting diagnoses can be experienced by mothers during the perinatal period. This study seeks to determine the feasibility, appropriateness, meaningfulness and clinical effectiveness of an Art Psychotherapy intervention with this patient group, via the delivery of individual sessions in the context of a randomised control trial with wait-list control group in an NHS inpatient Perinatal Mental Health service.

The thesis provides a summary of the literary, professional, academic and clinical contexts to the research, followed by a mixed methods systematic review which seeks to identify and analyse the existing evidence base for the intervention with the perinatal mental health patient group. Evidence gaps in the provision of rigorous, mixed methods research which aligns with clinical expectations in the field are identified within the systematic review which in turn informs the research methodology, detailing the researcher position, ethical considerations and the intended approach to the collection and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data. The subsequent presentation of a rich qualitative case series is followed by a thematic analysis of qualitative data, identifying 5 master themes relating to both the patient and therapist experience of the Art Therapy intervention. The master themes noted within the data are therapeutic process, the revealing image, mothering of others, mothering of self and control. Master themes identified are assessed for indications of treatment acceptability, the results of which demonstrate that the intervention can be considered to be clinically feasible, appropriate, meaningful and effective for use with the perinatal mental health patient group.

The researcher returns to the research questions to offer concluding answers drawn from the data while highlighting challenges faced during the research phase. Recommendations are provided to inform future research in the field with the aim of enhancing the existing research findings. This is followed by a closing discussion of the ongoing intentions of the researcher to establish a spectrum of Art Psychotherapy provision for perinatal mental health patients.