The Misadventures of Qualiflower and Melvin

H: Yeah I think it would be in there.

K: Have you looked through any of those studies, like the ones in the office or the ones that are posted online?

H: I haven’t looked online yet but I have just briefly looked through of those books. Some of them are pretty intimidating, especially the big ones but I remember Mary Ellen saying “keep it small, and simple”.

K: Is there anything I didn’t ask that you want to mention about your future research?

H: I guess, but I never really thought I would be doing research. I didn’t have a lot of interest in it when I was a psychology major in undergrad before transferring here. I thought it was really really boring. But now I see beyond that, cause if you do pick something you’re interested in then you’re gonna want to know more about it, and keep going and find out more. And help bring more research into the world…pretty cool.

K: Do you think you have such a drive for research now, because we’re in a field that is so new and needs more research done in it?

H: I would say definitely. Just from undergrad trying to look up studies that related to exactly what I was interested in, more specific than general was really frustrating. So I definitely want to help bring more research into the art therapy field, most definitely.

K: So besides this, what research do you see yourself doing or do you want to see how this one goes?

H: Definitely both. Now that I’m going to be working with people with substance abuse that’s also something that’s sparked my interest and I think I also want to see other research done with the elderly, cause there isn’t a lot there either.

K: Those with addiction, has that been a population you’ve been interested in before or is that a more recent thing you’ve thought about.

H: It’s come about more recently. I always thought working with that population was kind of scary and didn’t know a lot about it. But I’ve known people who have passed away because they have overdosed and I also know people who are getting treatment for having a drug addiction and also there is a growing drug problem around my town back home, and the surrounding area. So I feel now that the opportunity has given me a chance to help my community back home now.

K: Would you think about doing your research back home to conduct.

H: That’s definitely a possibility, yeah.

H: I live in a very small town but I did find out that there is an art therapist in my hometown, so I might try to reach out to her and see if she’d be interested.

K: Do you know what she specializes in?

H: I think she just works with anyone, I tried to look for it on the website, but I don’t think there any real mention of her specialties. I’ll have to get into contact with her.

K: So do you think you’ll have one population that you’ll exclusively work with later on or do you think you’ll be pretty much open to everything?

H: I’d like to think I’d be open to anyone, but there’s gonna be some populations that I’m not gonna have a whole lot of experience helping, so I’m gonna have to possibly pass them along to one of my coworkers or I could give it a try and see how it goes. But I’m kinda hoping to work exclusively with adults and maybe young adults. Maybe even the elderly, but we’ll see what happens.

K: Do you think your fellowship has helped with getting an idea for research or just kind of seeing how that side of art therapy works?

H: It’s given me more ideas for research. Just the other day before the snowstorm hit and classes got canceled Simone didn’t think she was going to make it on Thursday so she was talking about having me fill in for your class actually and she gave me two books on outsider artists, I think they mostly worked with people who had schizophrenia, and I was looking at the pictures and I noticed that alot of the art  that I’ve seen just so far with people with schizophrenia, they seem to use every single color but mostly red, blue, yellow, and green in their paintings so I told her about my observation and she said that might be a good idea for research project in the future, so I thought “hmm that’s interesting”. So that’s a possibility, but I don’t think I want to do that for my study.

K: You said you might want to look at colors people used in your research studies, maybe you would find some similarities in the usage.

H: It’s a possibility

H: I don’t know if they use more, I feel like people might use blue more just cause blue is more calming. That would be a theory to test or when I do it.

K: Would you restrict colors that your participants could use? Like would you give them a limited palette or do think you’d let them have any color they want.

H: I think I would try to give them as many colors as I can. [intelligible] I don’t like restricting color.

K: Will your participants eventually get to keep their work or do you think you’ll be keeping it all.

H: I would ask them, I would wait until the end of the study and ask them if they wanted to keep their art.

K: You said you would be recording their answers? So would there be an interview kind of process before they entered the study or would it just kinda be open to everybody?

H: Yeah I guess I would do an interview before the study. Maybe I would see what kind of experience they have with doing art and how they feel about making art, just get a background on them.

K: I know one in one of classes, Susan mentioned how she promised lunch to somebody for answering questions. Do you think you’d utilize any sort of reward?

H: I think it would depend on my financial situation. Maybe I can give them candy after it’s over.

K: Just curious

H: It’s a good question

K: That could raise ethical dilemmas too.

K: Do you forsee any ethical dilemmas coming up?

H: Not at the moment. I really hope there’s none. That’s something I am definitely going to have to be aware of.

K: You said you looked through those other studies in that binder, skimmed through. Is there any that caught your eye, that you could draw inspiration from besides the one you took part in?

H: Not yet, just cause the ones I looked through, it was very briefly. It was when I was substituting for Simone’s Senior Seminar class and they were working on their research proposals. So I had them all look through the books, I didn’t see what they studied, I kind of just went to the measures section, and wanted to see what scales they used. I don’t know why I was more interested in that.

K: Do you have any faculty member in mind that you would try get advice from for this?

H: I would definitely try to get advice from Simone just because I am around her the most. I’d probably ask Mary Ellen for help too just cause she has a lot of knowledge about research. Maybe Susan too. I know she’s not here right now, but I could always email her.

K: You mentioned that you were nervous about the time it takes for the IRB approval is there anything else that makes you nervous for this?

H: Just like waiting to see whose willing to participate in the study, makes me a second nervous, just cause I don’t know, I don’t know who would be interested.

K: I know some college students are underage and are still needing parental consent..

H: That’s right.

K: Would you be limiting, would you like, take those people out of equation for this or do you think you’d be open some younger students and getting consent from their parents?

H: I don’t want to not include them in the study but just to make it easier on myself I think it would be better  to not include them in the study. So when I make the flyers I might make an age limit, like 18+ on there. But if I were to reuse it in the future like I said if I would go to an elementary school, of course I would get consent to that. I just think it would be easier cause I wouldn’t have to worry about one group meeting consent and the other needing it. It would be the full group that would need consent besides the faculty.

K: You said there is no art therapy association over in Iceland, so do you know how consent works over there.

H: Well do have an association but they aren’t legit with the government like we are. I think they are seen the same way as a therapist and they still need to get consent. But I don’t know how they get funding for their research. Actually, there isn’t any research. I’ve check there isn’t any. When I met her, that’s definitely something they want to work on. I think that was also the inspiration for getting really good at research because I want there to be research coming out of Iceland.

K: Is it because it’s so new there that there isn’t really any research or the education is different.

H: I think it’s just because it’s so new, and the president is so busy that she hasn’t been able to sit down and start a research project yet. The people that do go there have to start in a certain location. I know that she said there was a woman there who that moved had to start in kindergarten before she could do anything else. I know that of them have a lot of their own private practices as well as working in other institutions. Maybe it’s just cause they are working towards setting up a program and along with all of that they just haven’t had time. I’m gonna have to ask.

K: You said you really want to bring research to Iceland, and have things coming out from there. Do you think that it might be difficult because of your background because you are an American? Are they going to be willing to accept your findings and such?

H: That’s a possibility. I’m not sure how they would feel about it. I’m sure the president would be excited about it though, cause she’s trying to get more interested in research and from her background, I noticed that she did do a research project before she graduated and got her license but she had a team that did it with her, so it wasn’t just her project. I think two other people she did it with. So she doesn’t have experience doing one completely by herself, so maybe she needs more help. So that’s what I’m kinda hoping for when I go there, a few people to help me out in a research project. I think it would be too much to take on if it was just me.

K: Would that because of some language barriers?

H:  Definitely. When I met her I was with my boyfriend. There’s somethings she didn’t know how to say in English and he had to help her translate it, so yeah there’s a lot of words I’m gonna have to learn how to say to help me out in conducting research. But I haven’t met with other art therapists yet, she wants too connect me with other ones. They all, pretty much the general public all knows English, except for the older people, because it wasn’t as prominent in school as it is now. So if I meet with other art therapists they might be better at English than she is, not that she’s not good at it, just she’s not as fluent as other people.

K: You said this general…well older generations might have problem with English. So do you think you’ll have problems conducting art therapy sessions, or do you think the point or concepts are going to get across pretty well?

H:  I might have some issues. I’m trying to learn the language myself so I could see myself getting stuck. I would try to explain it the best that I can to them. Everyone that I met that doesn’t understand English or has a hard time with it, like my boyfriend’s mother. They all seem really accepting cause they all know that I’m trying to learn. They know it’s a hard language to learn from an English person to an Icelandic person. It’s really hard. So all of the people I’ve met so far have been really accepting. I think if I can’t get across what the activity is I might try something else. It’s like Mary Ellen said, always have a plan B.

K: Is there anything else you like to add, or anything thoughts

H: Not really

K: I’m trying to think of any last questions

K: I guess my last question is, I know that some people have had to take a little bit longer with their research here, are you ok with that if it takes longer or do you think you’re just gonna try to get it all done?

H: I think I’m gonna try to get it all done but if it takes a little longer I don’t think, I might be a little frustrated by that but I’d rather the quality of it come out really well instead of just half assing a project.

K: I think that’s how everybody feels if it takes a little bit longer.

K: Oh! Is there any classes you want to take that you think are going to help with your research? In terms of theory or research in general that we are planned to take? Is there any one that you’re looking forward too?

H: I know medical is going on right now and I would have liked to take that just to know what’s going on. I think I’m more experienced with the studio art part of art therapy so I want to see the more clinical side of it. Just so I get that balance in there. I know that there’s gonna be a course on substance abuse coming up, I think in the fall and I think I would be interested in taking that and I know there’s gonna be a class on the sand tray and I’m really excited about that because I loved doing the sand try activities in class and I think the last one I’m really excited about it the Couples and Family Counseling Class.

K: So a lot of stuff coming up that could contribute.

K: Well, I think we’re good

K: So they did photography, what kind of intervention or activity would you want to do?

H: I think I want to try, I’m not exactly sure how many yet. But I definitely want to do mandalas. Cause of like research studies I’ve read where they’ve proven to reduce stress and anxiety with their clients. Maybe some of the assessments we’ve done in class too. Maybe the bridge drawing and maybe like a coloring page too.

K: Would it just be undergrad students that you would look at or would you look at grad students?

H: I think I would look at both undergrad and grad. And now that I think of it, maybe ask even some of our professors to participate too.

K: It would be interesting to include the faculty. You’d get a very wide sample.

K: So can you see yourself applying any of that research to your eventual work in Iceland?

H: I hope so. I kinda I hope this is like a spring board to like future research with people who have anxiety. I also want to look at depression in the future but I think for now I’ll just keep in simple and do anxiety cause like I said, everybody has felt it like once and I’m pretty sure everyone on this campus feels it, a lot.

K: Yeah, definetly.

K: So you want to work with anxiety, and in Iceland. What mental health issues are prevalent there?

H: I haven’t checked with my contact there but I asked my boyfriend and he said definitely depression because they don’t get a lot of sunlight. I think it’s only like 4 months out of the year that they’ll get sunlight pretty much 24 hours a day but then after that , they’ll have maybe 3 or 4 hours of sunlight in the winter.

K: Do you think you’d have to change up the kind of interventions you would do there just because of the cultural differences or no?

H: I don’t think I would have to change it up too much. They’re pretty, art wise they’re pretty similar to like how we do art here.

K: Is the art scene and culture pretty big there?

H: Definitely in the city.  They do a lot of street art from what I’ve seen.

K: So is there a lot of art therapy that is practiced there or do you think you’d be kind of a pioneer?

H: I would definitely say it would be a pioneer because when I met with the woman who is the president of art therapy there she told me that there is only, I think it’s like 22 or 23 art therapists for the entire country.

K: Oh wow

H: And they don’t even have a program in the colleges yet, so that’s something I kinda want to, I hope to help them establish in the future.

K: Is it like independent study over there basically to get a degree?

H: They actually have to either come to America or go to England and study, cause they don’t have anything there.

H: I’m not sure how they, if they do licensing there or if they have to do it in the country they studied in and go back there. There’s still a lot to figure out.

K: Definitely

K: How did you meet your contact?

H: I did a lot of google research to look for her because their art therapy page was kind of hard to find. So I think I found the international page first then there was a link to Sweden and then they mentioned her in Sweden’s art therapy page, so I googled her name and eventually ended up finding her. It was kind of hard to find her.

K: Did you guys meet in person?

H: Yup. We, I think it was about a year ago, we made an appointment. Actually we had to make two separate ones. She has kids and they got sick, so she couldn’t end up going, we couldn’t meet with her that day. So the second time we ended up going to a café and we just talked for like 2 hours. I think we only expected to stay there for like an hour, and just talked about art therapy and other things.

K: Wow

H: It was great.

K: So do you think you’d be exclusively working with her?

H: That I’m not sure of because I know she has her own private practice, maybe I could work with her there but the other thing that she does in work in, she called it a hospital but I think it’s just a school for kids who have special needs and that’s not really a population I’m interested in but if they have a spot there I might just try it out.

K: For practicum, you’re going to be working with people with addiction, right?

H: Yes

K: So does Iceland have any, alcoholism is the big thing addiction wise?

H: Definitely alcoholism. My boyfriend told me they do have people that do drugs and they are addicts but I don’t think it’s as prominent as it is here.

K: So would substance abuse be something you would look at too with your research at school?

H: I haven’t decided that. It’s definitely been on my mind since I got this placement. Maybe in future research.

K: But not looking at students as a potential factor…

H: No…

K: Was the research for this project always looking at anxiety or depression or did you have other ideas prior to that?

H: When I first came here like I knew about mandalas, like that was the first thing I looked at before transferring and I think I just knew right away that I wanted to do something with them. I think I actually did look into mandalas with people who have ADHD just because I have experience with that myself. So I think that’s what I was planning on doing but the more I looked into it the more I saw that there wasn’t enough research. It would be a little too frustrating to do that.

K: Right

K: What sparked the interested in mandalas, what attracted you to that?

H: I think it was a research study that I read about using them with people who ADHD and how it helps them focus more and I actually gave it a try and tested myself. And it actually definitely did work and it helped me focus a lot more so I think just to see how useful it was on myself, and I want to see how it would affect other people as well.

K: When you used it on yourself, did you set parameters of when you would create the mandala?

H: Not really, I just kind of went for it.

K: So in your research study that you’re going to do, will.. the parameters,… will you have them do a mandala before an assignment or after and assignment to relieve anxiety?

H: I haven’t decided on that part yet. I thought maybe asking them how their week went, and then answering those questions and having them do the art assessment and then I guess asking them how their stress level feels, if they feel more composed.

K: With the questions, would you do like a survey, scale..?

H: I think I would do it more like a survey. And then maybe measuring the anxiety with one of the scales

K: Have you had any scales for anxiety that you want to use?

H: I think there’s one called Beck’s Anxiety Scale. I know they have one for anxiety and depression, and I would try to use the one for anxiety just to get familiar with it.

K: Is this the first research study that you’ve done or going to be doing, or have you done something similar in undergrad?

H: No, this is gonna be the first study I’ve done. I remember I had to do a research proposal for my senior seminar in undergrad and I believe that was also anxiety, but I also think I did anxiety depression. I definitely put mandala in there, and there were other assessments but I can’t remember because it was a year ago.

K: So that was kind of like your prototype for this?

H: Yes

K: Do you think you’re going to go back and look through that senior thesis to

H: Yeah definitely, there might be a research study in there that I probably forgot about because I know I had to use like 4 or 5 research studies but I know one of them I’ve been clinging on too and that one has mandalas, and I think they did a comparison to that, to this sheet of paper that had a plaid design and they had to color that and the other thing was a blank sheet of paper and they were asked to draw, so they did a comparison of those three.

K: And you said something about that you want to make use of coloring sheets? Any, like what kind of subjects would you want to use on the coloring sheets?

H: Maybe I would find like a nice intricate design from those adult coloring books and use that. I don’t think I would want to use the same plaid design they used in that study just because they would be replicating them a little too much.

H: I might save replicating that study further down the line.

K: So with the adult coloring books, have you had experience with using those and finding them therapeutic?

H: Yeah, I have quite a few actually that I’ve gotten from family and friends for Christmas, and I don’t know when I was a kid I did like coloring books but I found coloring in the lines a little frustrating just cause I like being organic with my art style, and it felt too restrictive. And I kind of feel the same way even now. I have sat down with a few of them, but I’ve never really finished any of the pages just cause I would get bored because I felt too restricted by all the lines.

K: For the mandala and the coloring sheets what materials do you think you’d utilized?

H: I think colored pencils and maybe fine point markers. I don’t know if I would use paints. I think it would just be colored pencils and fine point markers. It probably would just be done on a nice piece of, I guess like a textured construction paper.

K: Would you just forgoe using the paints just because of the anxiety using those, versus using colored pencils?

H: Yeah, unless maybe using water colored pencils. I could see giving that a try.

K: How would you go about getting participants for your study?

H: From what I’ve been thinking I might do, like a flyer around the school and have those little stubs around the end that people can tear off and they would have my email address on it, and they would just contact me through my email if they wanted to participate.  But I haven’t decided yet exactly on how many people I want to participate in the study yet.

K: Is there a location you have in mind like around campus or is that further down the line?

H: I was hoping the library would be finished by the time it gets done, if it doesn’t maybe I would do it in the quiet spaces in the Townhouses, if that would be ok with the area. I haven’t been down there so I don’t know if it’s no talking at all, or if we can go in a secret, just secluded room to talk.

K: You mentioned that you would see if faculty would be interested, is there…would it just be members of the art department or would you be open to all faculty members?

H: I think it would be open to all faculty members, just because I don’t want there to be bias behind the art activities.  

K: I know when people are given a task or an assessment that involves there is sometimes, they are a little weary, is there anything you would do to reassure them?

H: I think I would just tell them that nobody is perfect and their art doesn’t have to be perfect, I’m just testing their anxiety level and not their art skill level to make them feel a little less anxious about doing the art.

K: Do you foresee any potential issues with this or do you think it’s pretty straightforward?

H: The only issue I see with it right now maybe would not getting enough people to participate, because I know I don’t want a really, really, really small group. I think maybe, I know I said I don’t have a set number, but I think I want at least 20 people and its possible I might get more students than faculty members, so that would be the big age difference in the study.

K: Would you set parameters around gender? Like make sure you hit a certain number of male or female?

H: No, I don’t think so, probably not. But I think maybe for the amount of grad and undergrad, I feel like there is definitely a lot more undergrads that go here than grad students, so I I might have a lot more grad, I mean undergrad students than grad students and faculty members. I kind of want to try to get an equal amount of grad and undergrad students in the study.

K: Have you thought about, about how you’re going to like…I know with the assessments that you use, have you thought about how you’re going to analyze the data?

H: Not sure yet, I think I would just compare from the questions I would ask before the art activities and then, and how they feel after the art activities. That’s the only way I think. And maybe there a possibility I could look the colors they choose and the lines they make when they draw things.

K: So you’d be doing a survey of sorts, would there be open ended questions or would it be strictly yes or no?

H: I kind of want to make it yes or no, just to make it easier on myself. Might even be possible that I could find a survey that has already been set up test stress and anxiety.

K: Would it be a plan, if this is successful, to implement in other schools? To be used as a resource in counseling centers?

H: That would be a cool idea actually. Maybe not just like other colleges, maybe in elementary school, maybe high schools, and maybe middle schools as well. That would be kind of neat to see, like anxiety levels through different parts of life.

K: How would you adapt that to other age groups?

H: Well I don’t think they could do the intricate adult coloring books. I would definitely have to do children’s coloring books. But I remember Simone saying in a Children and Adolescent’s class that coloring books aren’t really meant for small children. So that would be something I would definitely have to adapt. Maybe they could just do a lot of free drawing? I don’t think mandalas would work either. But maybe…

K: I know you said you would use flyers, do you think you would make use of social media?

H: That would be a good idea actually. Cause I could definitely ask for permission to post on the VAPA Facebook page and the Springfield College Facebook page as well.

K: If you did that would you also, for your survey would you have them do the survey in writing right there with you or would there be an option for them to do that online?

H: I think I would want them to do it right there with me and I think I would set it up the same way that it happened when I was in undergrad and I had the study done. I think I would have, she had her laptop there, and she didn’t record a visual of me, she just recorded my voice while she was interviewing, so I think I would want to do it that way.

K: Would you be photographing the work that they do?

H: I think I would obviously with their consent.

K: Are you worried about the IRB approval?