Art therapy to improve communication skills for Chinese premarital couples.

摘要

Due to changing marital values, many people in Taiwan and China nowadays consider marriage for romantic reasons and do not always realize the responsibilities involved. The purpose of this study was to find whether art therapy was helpful for premarital couples to improve communication skills and gain awareness of possible future marital issues. Sixteen couples from Beijing, Nanjing, and Taipei participated in the study. The participants were asked to complete pre and post questionnaires, two home tasks, and two art therapy sessions. The study utilized both quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze the data. Findings revealed that participants responded that art therapy was helpful. The quantitative results showed that art therapy improved couples' communication skills; however, the improvement regarding future marital knowledge was not prominent enough. Art therapy was found beneficial to Chinese and Taiwanese premarital couples in this study. Unfortunately, only a few art therapy studies have focused on this population. Further study is suggested in order to learn more about the use of art therapy with premarital couples in Taiwan and China.;Keywords: premarital, couple, communication, art therapy, Taiwan, China.