Learning Disability Group Art Therapy: Looking and Asking

Mental Health Clinical Trial

— GATher-LD  

Official title:

Group Art Therapy Practice for People With a Learning Disability (GATher-LD): A Qualitative Study

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT05761600
• Other study ID #: 147946
• Status: Completed
• Start date: February 14, 2023
• Est. completion date: September 25, 2023

Study information

• Verified date: March 2024
• Source: Queen Mary University of London
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Observational

Clinical Trial Summary

A qualitative study of group art therapy in England for adults with a learning disability accessing community services. Different stakeholder views and experiences will be gathered using ethnographically-informed group observation, semi-structured individual interviews and a focus group. People with a learning disability will support the data analysis and dissemination of findings in accessible means.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 22
• Est. completion date: September 25, 2023
• Est. primary completion date: September 25, 2023
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

INCLUSION CRITERIA:

Participants who are art therapists must:

• Be a HCPC registered arts therapist practicing in the UK
• Have experience of delivering group arts therapy in a community setting to this population
• Be able to give informed consent and communicate in English

Participants who are adults with a learning disability must:

• Be 18 years old or over
• Have a diagnosed learning disability or be accessing an NHS specialist learning disability service or using their personal budget to access a third sector art therapy group for this population
• Have experienced mental distress, have a diagnosed mental health condition or be accessing support for their mental health
• Be currently accessing group arts therapy
• Be able to give informed consent with adapted communication aids and approaches to meet their communication preferences
• Have a level of verbal ability to ensure they can communicate their views and meaningfully engage in the study

Participants who are paid support staff or family carers must:

• Be 18 years old or over
• Be identified by the person with a learning disability as someone who knows them well and could represent the carer perspective in this study
• Be able to give informed consent
• Have adequate command of the English to be able to meaningfully engage in the study

Participants will be excluded if they:

• Are unable to engage in the informed consent process; this is likely to exclude people who have a more severe form of learning disability
• Delivering the arts therapy group on an inpatient or acute ward
• Trainee arts therapists, or those who have yet to complete registration with the HCPC

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Learning Disabilities
• Mental Health

Intervention

Other:
• Ethnographically-informed group observation
The chief investigator will visit each art therapy group 3-6 times; there will be up to 5 groups recruited. They will record observational data and insights; making use of visual reflective journaling where appropriate. These will later be written up as full field notes.
• Semi-structured Interviews
Individual interviews will take place with all three key stakeholders in group art therapy at different stages of the study. Each interview will have a topic guide to structure the discussion and will combine arts-based methods with conversation to maximise accessibility. Interview location, timing and format (online or in-person) are flexible, and the chief investigator will adapt to the needs of the participants.
• Focus Group
After data collection and initial analysis (likely 3-5 months after final observation and/or interview) a focus group will be held with the art therapist participants. This session will use arts-based engagement to support member checking of the initial results and triangulation of the findings, which is likely to include potential active ingredients in group art therapy and principles of practice with this client group.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United Kingdom	Sirona Adult Learning Disability Health Service	Bristol
United Kingdom	Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust	Coventry
United Kingdom	Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust	Kent
United Kingdom	East London NHS Foundation Trust	London
United Kingdom	Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust	Salford	Manchester

Sponsors (3)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Queen Mary University of London	Barts & The London NHS Trust, East London NHS Foundation Trust

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United Kingdom, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	To understand the features of current group art therapy practice for people with a learning disability	Through using ethnographically informed observation of art therapy groups, arts-based semi-structured interviews and focus group to gather key stakeholder perspectives from service users, carers, and art therapists	12 months
Secondary	Identify the potential active ingredients of art therapy with this client group through describing the procedures used by art therapists		12 months
Secondary	Understand how people with a learning disability experience art therapy to identify helpful therapist behaviours and highlight possible future domains of outcome measurement		12 months
Secondary	Identify the components of the intervention, which includes dynamic administration and how best to include the person's network		12 months