ArticleFrontiers in psychiatry2026
Design and evaluation of a group-based integrative expressive art therapy intervention for mental health among pregnant women in China: a pilot pre-post study.
Article in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
Background: Pregnant women in China face various emotional difficulties during pregnancy but lack adequate mental health support. This study aimed to design and evaluate a group-based integrative expressive art therapy intervention for addressing emotional and psychological concerns in this population. Methods: A quasi-experimental design with pre- and post-intervention assessments were delivered from July to December 2025. We developed a five-session expressive art therapy intervention employing multiple art modalities, including painting, doodling, hand-making, OH cards, music as well as storytelling. In the secondary analyses, we selected a control group (N = 14) to compare participants' perceptions of art therapy and willingness-to-pay against those in the intervention group (N = 14). Results: After the intervention, significant reductions in both state and trait anxiety were observed (p<0.05). Qualitative analyses revealed improvements in emotional awareness, self-expression, cognitive restructuring, stress relief, social support, social connection, self-acceptance, and self-efficacy. In the secondary analyses, participants who received intervention reported more positive perceptions of its effects in emotion regulation, anxiety reduction, and mother-child relationship enhancement compared with non-participants (p<0.05), while no significant differences were found in willingness-to-pay (p=0.7). Conclusions: This pilot study demonstrates the feasibility and effects of a group-based integrative expressive art therapy for pregnant women in China. The findings support the application of expressive art therapy as a mental health service and provide implications for the development of related health policies.
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