Comparing the effectiveness of mandala art and value clarification on the anxiety and emotional state of parents of children with cancer: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Purpose

The study aims to compare the effectiveness of mandala art and value clarification practices based on Watson's Theory of Human Caring on the anxiety and emotional state of parents of children with cancer.

Methods

The study was conducted as a randomized controlled trial and included parents of children being treated for cancer at the Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Clinic of a university hospital. The sample of the study is three groups; it consisted of a total of 75 people as mandala group (n:25), value clarification group (n:25) and control group (n:25). The mandala group participated in 2 sessions of individual mandala art accompanied by music. Value clarification group participated in the value clarification activity in 2 sessions of individual writing accompanied by music. For the pre-test data, the Personal Information Form, State Anxiety Inventory (SAI), and Positive-Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) were administered to both groups before the first session. After the second session, the same two scales were used again for the post-test data. The analyses of data were carried out with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software (version 23.0, SPSS Inc.). Chi-squared tests, t-tests, and one-way ANOVA were used to analyze the differences in the mean scores between the groups.

Results

The parents' average age was 36.2 years (SD = 7.40), with 92.0% being female. The SAI score and PANAS negative emotion score of the mandala and value clarification groups decreased significantly compared to the control group, and the PANAS positive emotion score increased significantly (p < 0.05). However, when comparing the mandala group with the value clarification group, no statistically significant differences were found in the mean SAI and PANAS scores (p > 0.05).

Conclusion

The individual mandala art and writing value clarification interventions based on Watson's Theory of Human Caring are effective in increasing positive emotions and reducing negative emotions and anxiety levels among parents of children with cancer.