Lesley University DigitalCommons@Lesley Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences Expressive Therapies Dissertations (GSASS) Spring 5-16-2020 Student Wellbeing and Open Studio Process in the School Curriculum Maria Kim mariart88@gmail.com Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.edu/expressive_dissertations Part of the Applied Behavior Analysis Commons, Art Education Commons, Asian Studies Commons, Child Psychology Commons, Community Health and Preventive Medicine Commons, Community Psychology Commons, Counselor Education Commons, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, Educational Methods Commons, Educational Psychology Commons, Educational Sociology Commons, Health Psychology Commons, International Public Health Commons, Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching Commons, Medicine and Health Commons, Multicultural Psychology Commons, Other Psychiatry and Psychology Commons, Other Psychology Commons, Other Public Health Commons, Other Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons, Pain Management Commons, Public Health Education and Promotion Commons, Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, School Psychology Commons, Secondary Education and Teaching Commons, Social Psychology and Interaction Commons, Social Statistics Commons, Social Welfare Commons, and the Social Work Commons Recommended Citation Kim, Maria, "Student Wellbeing and Open Studio Process in the School Curriculum" (2020). Expressive Therapies Dissertations.edu/expressive_dissertations/96 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences (GSASS) at DigitalCommons@Lesley. It has been accepted for inclusion in Expressive Therapies Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Lesley. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@lesley.edu, cvrattos@lesley.
1 Student Wellbeing and Open Studio Process in the School Curriculum A DISSERTATION submitted by MARIA KIM In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy LESLEY UNIVERSITY May 20, 2020 2 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at Lesley University and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowed without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of sources is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author.
SIGNED: ___________________________ 3 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my committee members. My advisor, Dr. Robyn Flaum Cruz, offered encouragement and guidance through each stage of this wonderful process. Without her persistent and thoughtful help, I would not have been able to complete this study, especially during the time of my swimming in a vast sea of data.
My great thanks are also extended to Dr. Ramirez who provided pivotal feedback and unconditional support during this process. I would also like to thank Dr. Heesu Yoon for her warm advice and assistance in keeping my project on schedule and relevant, especially in Korea.
This project would not have been successful without her thoughtful and tremendous care throughout this journey. Also, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Michele Forinash for her aid in this research and warm presence during this journey. The physical and technical contributions of the art education department of Kongju National University are truly appreciated.
Without their assistance, this project could not have reached its goal. I also would like to offer my gratitude to the participating teachers who opened their hearts to this project and earnestly carried it out. I thank my cohort 10 colleagues for the stimulating but thoughtful discussions and for witnessing our journey together. Also, I thank my dear friends for the reassurance and love: Sojin Kang for such a big heart and tremendous thoughtful help during this study; Eunsook Lee for your unconditional affirmation throughout this endeavor; Lisa Helene Donovan Bacalski for being there whenever I needed.
I also would like to thank all my friends, colleagues, and mentors who witnessed and supported my journey to this point. Last but not least, I would like to express my deep gratitude for the fortitude and great love of my parents, Mr. Jinbae Kim, my siblings, nephews and niece, and my husband. They kept me going, and this work would not have been possible without their endless love.
5 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES. 7 LIST OF FIGURES. 20 Wellbeing of Young People. 27 Importance of Prevention to Wellbeing.
34 Art(s), Creativity, and Healing. 39 Barriers to Psychotherapy. 49 Bridging Toward Wellbeing: The OSP. 54 Efforts to Bridge Mental Health and Education.
68 Conclusion and Future Study Implication. 92 Quantitative Pre-Posttest: K-YSR (Korean Youth Self-Report). 92 Qualitative Written Feedback (Students). 97 Teachers’ Experiences of OSP: From “Teacher Training”.
112 Teachers’ Experiences of OSP: From “Focus Group” (Facilitation). 124 Wellbeing: Statistical Significance. 125 Wellbeing: Students’ Experiences. 133 OSP in Educational Setting.
135 Implications of Study. 137 Limitation of Study. 139 6 APPENDIX A: Research Informed Consent. 141 APPENDIX B: Parental Consent Form.
143 APPENDIX C: OSPIE-AE Classroom Management (Suggestions)-Korean. 147 APPENDIX D: Open-Ended Questions for Experimental Group. 149 APPENDIX E: Teachers’ Feedback on the OSP Experience and Training. APPENDIX F: Semi-Structured Questions for the Focus Group.
151 APPENDIX G: Raw Summaries of Teacher Responses From Teacher Training. 152 APPENDIX H: Summary of Themes/Subthemes of All Students’ Responses to OSP Elements. 159 APPENDIX I: Teachers’ Experiences from Training & Facilitation. 7 LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1, Participating Schools.
84 TABLE 2, Teacher Training Schedules. 85 TABLE 3, The 7-week OSP Art Classes. 87 TABLE 4, Number of Students. 92 TABLE 5, Total Results of K-YSR Pre-Posttest: All Students.
93 TABLE 6, High School Students’ Pre-Posttests Mean Difference. 94 TABLE 7, All Middle School Students’ Pretest and Posttests Mean Differences. 95 TABLE 8, MS 7-week Pre-Posttests Mean Difference .5-week Pre-Posttests Mean Difference. 96 TABLE 10, HS: Taking the Class Again or Not and Why.
103 TABLE 11, HS: Suggestions. 104 TABLE 12, MS: Taking the Class Again or Not and Why. 109 TABLE 13, MS: Suggestions. 110 8 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1.
Grade Level Participants (7th to 11th). Common & Different Experiences Among HS and MS. 130 9 Abstract This study aimed to explore whether Open Studio Process (OSP) increased wellbeing of middle and high school students when facilitated by teachers as a part of the regular art curriculum. It was hypothesized that OSP might increase the sense of wellbeing among middle and high school students as well as facilitating teachers.
The research was conducted as a mixed methods study in South Korea where students need preventative interventions for their wellbeing. The researcher trained eight teachers to facilitate OSP and five of them implemented it with their classes for seven sessions. Quantitative data (K-YSR; pre- and posttest) were collected from 288 students (ages from 12 to 17; Mage = 14.551 ; grade 7 to 11; 186 girls and 102 boys; 4 middle and 2 high schools) divided between experimental (n = 149) and control groups (n = 139). Qualitative data included two open- ended questions answered by each student in the experimental group after the 7-session class, teachers’ written feedback about OSP collected after their training, and a focus group for the teachers after the sessions were concluded.
Students’ K-YSR scores in the experimental group (all secondary school students) showed improvement compared to the control group for Somatic Complaints that typically relate to stress and depression showed statistically significant improvement which included general somatic complaints (t = -3.0001) and DSM somatic complaints (t = 3. Students’ responses from qualitative data showed high satisfaction with the 7-session class through improved sense of wellbeing and 93% of re-take rate. In the focus group, the teachers shared their impressions of improved student-teacher relationship and of students’ increased awareness about diversity and more proactive behaviors, personal and professional benefit for themselves, and the feasibility of implementing the program as a part of the school curriculum. OSP may have potential to 10 improve students’ wellbeing in school setting when it is provided by art teachers as a part of the art curriculum in South Korea.
Keywords: art curriculum, art teachers, art therapy, high school, middle school, OSP, Open Studio Process, professional development (PD), renewal, students, secondary school, South Korea, wellbeing. 11 CHAPTER 1 Introduction The middle and high school age seems to be especially crucial for the later wellbeing of the individual (Nishida, Richards, & Stafford, 2016; Stringaris, Cohen, Pine, & Leibenluft, 2009). Although students spend most of their time at school, studies show that they often lose their sense of school connectedness over a 3-year period (Loukas, Cance, & Batanova, 2016; Way, Reddy, & Rhodes, 2007). Further, their levels of wellbeing (e., depressive symptoms, behavior problems, and general self-esteem) also declined over time and the perception of fewer opportunities for student autonomy increased students’ depressive symptoms, behavioral problems, and lower self-esteem (Way et al.
Isolated peer support without adult supports such as parents or teachers did not enhance wellbeing or mental health of 8 th graders (Ciarrochi et al., 2017), suggesting that teachers’ roles must be considered for interventions within school settings. Longitudinal studies show the positive impact of early interventions (Brent & Loeber, 2015; Dodge et al., 2014) and even 8th grade wellbeing was associated with a higher level of wellbeing in 11th grade (Ciarrochi et al. However, challenges include the barriers to seek and receive help. Students are often referred for therapy by their teachers and/or authorities when their problematic behaviors are noticed.
In addition to being in therapy creating self-stigma and public stigma (Vogel, Wade, & Haake, 2006), seeking help itself generates a stigma called the help-seeking self-stigma (Tucker et al. This suggests a need for less intense and non- pathological approaches for children’s mental health/wellbeing. Some tools may be needed so 12 students can process their life challenges before they progress into more problematic behaviors. Interestingly, along with the above evolving needs, there have been efforts to de- pathologize the perspectives on mental health for more than three decades (Vick & Sexton- Radek, 2008) and de-stigmatizing efforts have increased by adapting mindfulness to enhance wellbeing (e., Abbey, 2012; Chiesa, Calati, & Serretti, 2011; Cloninger, 2006; Farb, Anderson, & Segal, 2012; Kabbat-Zinn, 1990, 2003; World Health Organization, 2014).
In art education and art therapy, similar parallel efforts seem to be present since certain wellness approaches deliberately avoid the label and methods of therapy (e., Allen, 1995, 2005; Block, Harris, & Laing, 2005; Cassou & Cubley, 1995; Gamble, 1997; Swindells et al., 2016; Timm-Bottos & Reilly, 2015; Vick & Sexton-Radek, 2008; Wilson & Sharpe, 2017). Open Studio Process Among the efforts to avoid calling wellness approaches therapy is the Open Studio Process (OSP) or OSP Process/Open Studio/ the Process, an arts-based creative process developed by Pat B. Allen and her colleagues, Dayna Block and Debbie Gadiel. OSP has been assisting communities for about 30 years in the United States (Allen, 2005) in managing diverse needs (e., stress, retreat, renewal, and creativity, etc.) especially through the organization Open Studio Project, Inc.
Using no assessment or treatment plans, the OSP approach is not called therapy thus making access easier for the public. Combined with a clear structure, simple materials, and the principle of the No-Comment rule, OSP allows anyone to participate and be trained as a facilitator. The carefully created structure consists of the sequential five elements (e., Intention, Artmaking, Witness Writing, Reading, and Discussion) and typically one OSP 13 workshop/class takes 2 ½ hours to complete, depending on the number of participants and age group (M. According to Allen (2005), the Intention, the first element, takes place by writing down any inquiry or what the participants would like to receive from the Process.