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Expressive Arts As A Means Of Increasing Well-Being In Children, Danielle L. Barnes-Smith, Jordan Frotz, Hanasara Ito, Johannah Kohorst, Emily Vascimini

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

The purpose of this research is to discover the extent to which expressive arts increase well-being in children. Expressive arts are being defined here as theatre, dance, art, and creative writing. Well-being is defined as self-efficacy and self-worth. The project was carried out in a four-week expressive arts program designed to teach fifth grade elementary school students a variety of artistic disciplines (i.e. theatre, dance, art, and creative writing). Both before and after the workshop, the students completed measures of self-worth and self-efficacy; these measures were used to identify changes in students from the beginning of the program to the …