Understanding the Educational Experiences of Graduate Counseling Students Engaged in Therapeutic Expressive Arts-Based Activities

ASU Author/Contributor (non-ASU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Diane Joan Guelzow (Creator)
Institution
Appalachian State University (ASU )
Web Site: https://library.appstate.edu/
Advisor
Kelly Clark-Keefe

Abstract: This study focuses on how graduate counseling students experience therapeutic expressive arts-based activities. Participation in expressive arts-based activities for graduate counseling students is intended to give students an understanding of how clients may experience EABA in therapy. It is in this experiential format of learning that students often express finding a personal therapeutic quality in addition to the academic understanding of EABA. However, there lacks in descriptive literature how graduate counseling students experience EABA. Research in this area is important for expressive arts therapy educators because the understanding of how graduate counseling students experience EABA informs pedagogy. This study pursues both a primary and secondary research question. 1. How do graduate counseling students describe their experience with expressive arts-based activities? 2. How do flow and event theories align or misalign with students’ expressed experiences with EABA in the classroom setting? Using a/r/tographic methodology, this qualitative study explored how graduate counseling students experienced EABA. Three major themes emerged from data analysis: sense of self in learning, physicality, and EABA as pedagogy. Findings indicate that students experienced competing emotions, positionality, affect, and integration from their experiences in EABA. Findings also indicate the teacher and student relationship weighed heavily in students’ academic success.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Guelzow, D.J. (2012). Understanding the Educational Experiences of Graduate Counseling Students Engaged in Therapeutic Expressive Arts-Based Activities. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Appalachian State University, Boone, NC.
Language: English
Date: 2012
Keywords
Higher education pedagogy, Expressive arts therapy theory, Expressive arts-based activities, Educational leadership

Email this document to