| Abstract [eng] |
The subject of this master thesis is the body image experience in the process of Art therapy of 11-year-old Girls attending a Children day care center. The study discusses the problem of the transitional age from childhood to adolescence - the 11th year of life - and the psychosocial, cognitive and biological changes taking place at that time. It determines the increased importance of the body image of girls of that age. Personal attitudes, thoughts, and feelings about one's body lead to a positive or negative body image, which affects self-esteem, emotional health, and behavioral patterns that develop. Therefore, even before adolescence, it is important to lay the foundations for a positive body image formation in girls. The aim of the study was to reveal the body image experience of the research participants in the art therapy process, through a review of the scientific literature and an empirical study. The research participants: four 11-year-olds girls from large, socially disadvantaged families. The participants attended the Children's day care center, where art therapy sessions were held. The main intervention of the study was group art therapy, which, as the literature review reveals, is widely used for working with children and adolescents, because the creative process helps to overcome the barriers of speech, expression of feelings and thoughts, resistance to therapy, and promotes overcoming the developmental tasks of the adolescent period. The following methods of data analysis were used in the qualitative study: thematic analysis and analysis of the artworks, based on the Art therapy methodology - Expressive Therapies Continuum (ETC). Results of the empirical research: the thematic analysis confirmed the increased importance of body image in the transition period from childhood to adolescence and the participants' positive experience of art therapy in better absorbing of their body sensations, arising emotions and thoughts, meeting the needs of safe self-expression and self-knowledge. The analysis of the artworks confirmed the appropriateness of the selected art therapy methodology in order to release creativity, which acts as an integrative function of self-knowledge. The analysis of human image drawings revealed a sufficiently positive body image of the subjects. Conclusion: the results of theoretical and empirical studies confirm that art therapy, with the help of a creative process, promotes the experience of body image and influences the formation of a positive body image in the period of late childhood - early adolescence. |
