Validation of the Arts therapies Process Monitoring Scale in psychiatric settings

OBJECTIVES: Arts Therapies (ATs) use artistic tools to promote patient well-being, improving cognitive, affective, expressive and relational dimensions. Several tools evaluate the outcomes of ATs, but one applicable to all forms of ATs is lacking. The aim of this study was to validate the Arts Therapies Process Monitoring Scale (in Italian: Scheda di Monitoraggio del Processo nelle Artiterapie; SMPA) to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of ATs in psychiatric settings. METHODS: A Technical in-depth Analysis Group (in Italian: Gruppo di Approfondimento Tecnico; GAT) developed the 58 items of SMPA and rated a detailed user's Manual. SMPA was applied by 24 specifically formed arts therapists on a sample of 101 patients attending the arts laboratories of GAT‘s psychiatric services. The exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of the data was carried out using the statistical package LiSRel version 8.8, applying the maximum likelihood (ML) solution method for both exploratory and confirmatory solutions. RESULTS: SMPA is composed of thematic dimensions associated with the following latent traits: cognitive area, relational area, expressive area, psycho-educational area, global evaluation, climate. All dimensions have shown a high internal consistency with high statistical reliability indices as shown by the structural adequacy indices of the elaborated structural equation models. CONCLUSION: SMPA has good psychometric properties and detects an individual profile along the above dimensions. SMPA can be applied for all ATs without changing the usual ATs procedure, supports a multidimensional and longitudinal observation of psychiatric patients in different contexts, and allows the verification of the effectiveness of the treatments.