The Effects of an Intermodal Art Therapy Program on Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and Emotion Regulation Skill Levels in Nursing Students: A Randomized Controlled Study

Atlas University

Status: Invitation-only

Conditions: Art Therapy

Treatments: Behavioral: Art Therapy

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07560241

01313

Details and patient eligibility

About

Nursing students face stress during their education, especially when transitioning to clinical practice; poorly managed stress reduces academic achievement and increases levels of depression and anxiety. Therefore, developing students' emotional awareness and coping skills is important. Art therapy is an effective method that supports individuals in self-expression and the development of emotion regulation skills. Although the literature shows positive effects of art-based interventions on psychological well-being, there are limited randomized controlled studies that address depression, anxiety, stress, and emotion regulation skills together in nursing students. Accordingly, this study aims to determine the effect of an intermodal art therapy program on these variables in nursing students. The research was planned as a two-group, single-blind, observational, randomized controlled interventional study. The population of the study will consist of 1st and 2nd-year nursing students studying at Istanbul Atlas University, and 44 students meeting the inclusion-exclusion criteria will constitute the sample of the study. The intermodal art therapy program will be applied to the intervention group. Data; Data will be collected using an Individual Demographic Form, the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale, and the Emotion Regulation Skills Scale. Interventions will be administered in approximately grouped sessions, once a week, for a total of 8 sessions, each lasting 90 minutes, in a structured format. Data analysis will be performed using the SPSS 23.0 software package. Descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution, mean, and standard deviation will be used to define the sample size; pairwise pairs or the Wilcoxon pairwise test will be used for intragroup comparisons according to parametric test assumptions; and the Chi-square test will be used for the analysis of categorical data. A 95% significance level will be used to determine differences in the analyses. This study aims to contribute to strengthening the psychosocial care of nursing students by providing evidence on the effectiveness of an intermodal art therapy program applied to nursing students.

Enrollment: 44 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 17 to 23 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Being enrolled in the 1st or 2nd year of the Nursing Department at Istanbul Atlas University in the Spring Semester of 2025-2026,
• Voluntarily participating in the research

Exclusion criteria

• Having any comprehension or speech impairment,
• Having any psychiatric diagnosis,
• Being on any psychotropic medication,
• Being enrolled in another program using a similar method that could affect the study's outcome

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Triple Blind

---

44 participants in 2 patient groups

Art Therapy Group

Experimental group

Description:

In the study, it was planned to apply art therapy program the independent variable to the intervention group in 8 sessions of 90-120 minutes, one days a week, and no intervention was planned for the control group.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Art Therapy

Comparison group

No Intervention group

Description:

No intervention was planned for the control group.