ABSTRACT

Background

The first 1000 days (conception to 2 years postnatal) are crucial for parent and infant health. Visual art-based interventions are used to promote positive parental mental health, but currently, there are no comprehensive insights into how these interventions can support new parents during this critical perinatal period.

Aims

To synthesise research on visual art-based interventions designed to promote parents’ mental well-being during the first 1000 days to understand if and how these interventions made a difference and to identify any barriers or facilitators to parents’ engagement.

Method

A keyword search of five databases (CINAHL, Embase, Medline, PsychInfo and Scopus), searches via Google Scholar and backward and forward chaining were undertaken. Quality appraisal was conducted using design appropriate tools, and a narrative thematic approach was used.

Results

4417 hits were identified, and 10 studies met eligibility criteria and were included. Interventions were classified as art therapy (n = 8) or creative arts (n = 2), and overall, a lack of robust evidence was highlighted. Six themes were constructed that describe the psychosocial impacts and experiences of the interventions and relational and contextual factors that influenced parents’ engagement. While both types of interventions had benefits, art therapy had the most profound impacts. Challenges regarding sustainability of impacts and facilitator skills were noted for creative arts, rather than art therapy interventions.

Conclusion

While art therapy interventions promote positive parental mental health and well-being, high-quality evidence is needed.

Implications for future research

More robust evaluation designs to identify mechanisms of effectiveness in art therapy interventions are needed.

Plain-language summary

In this study, we aimed to combine and summarise all available published research on visual art-based interventions (such as art therapy and creative arts) that had been designed to improve parents’ mental health and well-being during pregnancy or up to two years after birth. We wanted to find out if and how these interventions made a difference to parents, and what helped or did not help parents to take part. We found 10 relevant studies that involved different art-based interventions – eight were art therapy interventions delivered by a trained art therapist and two interventions were creative arts interventions delivered by other professionals (e.g. specialist health visitor, arts officer).

Most studies (80%) were undertaken in high-income countries, used different study designs, and often only included a small number of participants. Overall, there were benefits of both types of interventions for parents, but the most lasting and significant impacts were for art therapy. Parents in arts therapy studies felt the intervention had helped to increase awareness of their mental health issues, improved their confidence and self-esteem, helped them to build positive parent-baby connections and encouraged them to seek out further help.

Group-based art therapy also helped parents to form connections and friendships and to reduce social isolation and loneliness. Some factors that influenced parent participation were positive relationships with the therapist and being provided with clear information. Barriers to engagement were generally reported in creative arts, rather than art therapy interventions. Overall, the evidence suggests that art therapy could be an important intervention for parents who have poor mental health. However, more research is needed.

中文翻译：

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基于视觉艺术的干预措施对围产期福祉的经验和影响：综合评价

摘要

背景

前 1000 天（受孕到产后 2 年）对于父母和婴儿的健康至关重要。基于视觉艺术的干预措施被用来促进积极的父母心理健康，但目前，还没有关于这些干预措施如何在这个关键的围产期为新父母提供支持的全面见解。

目标

综合基于视觉艺术的干预措施的研究，旨在促进父母在出生后 1000 天内的心理健康，了解这些干预措施是否以及如何产生影响，并找出影响父母参与的任何障碍或促进因素。

方法

对五个数据库（CINAHL、Embase、Medline、PsychInfo 和 Scopus）进行关键词搜索，通过 Google Scholar 进行搜索以及向后和向前链接。使用设计适当的工具进行质量评估，并使用叙述性主题方法。

结果

确定了 4417 项命中，其中 10 项研究符合资格标准并被纳入。干预措施被分类为艺术治疗（n  = 8）或创意艺术（n  = 2），总体而言，缺乏强有力的证据。构建了六个主题来描述干预措施的社会心理影响和体验以及影响父母参与的关系和背景因素。虽然这两种干预措施都有好处，但艺术治疗的影响最为深远。创意艺术而非艺术治疗干预措施在影响的可持续性和促进者技能方面面临挑战。

结论

虽然艺术治疗干预措施可以促进父母积极的心理健康和福祉，但仍需要高质量的证据。

对未来研究的影响

需要更稳健的评估设计来确定艺术治疗干预措施的有效性机制。

通俗易懂的语言总结

在这项研究中，我们的目的是结合和总结所有现有的基于视觉艺术的干预措施（例如艺术治疗和创意艺术）的已发表研究，这些干预措施旨在改善父母在怀孕期间或长达两年的心理健康和福祉出生后。我们想了解这些干预措施是否以及如何对父母产生影响，以及什么有助于或没有帮助父母参与。我们发现了 10 项涉及不同艺术干预措施的相关研究——其中 8 项是由训练有素的艺术治疗师提供的艺术治疗干预措施，两项干预措施是由其他专业人员（例如专业健康访客、艺术官员）提供的创造性艺术干预措施。

大多数研究（80%）是在高收入国家进行的，采用不同的研究设计，并且通常只包括少数参与者。总体而言，这两种类型的干预措施对父母都有好处，但最持久和最显着的影响是艺术治疗。参与艺术治疗研究的家长认为，干预措施有助于提高他们对心理健康问题的认识，提高他们的信心和自尊，帮助他们建立积极的亲子关系，并鼓励他们寻求进一步的帮助。

基于团体的艺术治疗还帮助父母建立联系和友谊，减少社会孤立和孤独。影响家长参与的一些因素是与治疗师的积极关系以及获得清晰的信息。参与的障碍通常出现在创意艺术中，而不是艺术治疗干预中。总体而言，证据表明艺术治疗可能是心理健康状况不佳的父母的重要干预措施。然而，还需要更多的研究。