ArticleSystematic reviews2022
The effect of active visual art therapy on health outcomes: protocol of a systematic review of randomised controlled trials.
Article in Systematic reviews, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Art therapy for depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- The effects of visual art therapy in older adults with mild cognitive impairment: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Active Visual Art Therapy and Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JAMA network open · 2024Pooled it
- The effects of art therapy interventions on anxiety in children and adolescents: A meta-analysis.Clinics (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · 2024Pooled it
- Drawing therapy based on embodied cognition theory on emotional expression and social behavior in students with autism: a mixed-methods study.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Effects of Visual Art Therapy on Positive Symptoms, Negative Symptoms, and Emotions in Individuals with Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- The research focus and development trend of art therapy in Chinese education since the 21st century.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundArt therapy is a form of complementary therapy to treat a wide variety of health problems. Existing studies examining the effects of art therapy differ substantially regarding content and setting of the intervention, as well as their included populations, outcomes, and methodology. The aim of this review is to evaluate the overall effectiveness of active visual art therapy, used across different treatment indications and settings, on various patient outcomes.
methodsWe will include randomised controlled studies with an active art therapy intervention, defined as any form of creative expression involving a medium (such as paint etc.) to be actively applied or shaped by the patient in an artistic or expressive form, compared to any type of control. Any treatment indication and patient group will be included. A systematic literature search of the Cochrane Library, EMBASE (via Ovid), MEDLINE (via Ovid), CINAHL, ERIC, APA PsycArticles, APA PsycInfo, and PSYNDEX (all via EBSCOHost), ClinicalTrials.gov and the WHO's International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) will be conducted. Psychological, cognitive, somatic and economic outcomes will be used. Based on the number, quality and outcome heterogeneity of the selected studies, a meta-analysis might be conducted, or the data synthesis will be performed narratively only. Heterogeneity will be assessed by calculating the p-value for the chi DISCUSSION: This systematic review will provide a concise overview of current knowledge of the effectiveness of art therapy. Results have the potential to (1) inform existing treatment guidelines and clinical practice decisions, (2) provide insights to the therapy's mechanism of change, and (3) generate hypothesis that can serve as a starting point for future randomised controlled studies. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO ID CRD42021233272.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.