Colouring one's canvas with compassion - evaluating slow art plus as a means for fostering self-compassion: insights from an art-based gallery intervention

• Main Author: Chia, Charis
• Other Authors: Ho Hau Yan, Andy
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2023
• Subjects: Social sciences::Psychology
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/169632
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Engaging in negative thoughts or self-criticism can exhaust one’s mental and emotional well-being. To combat this negativity, it is essential to practise self-compassion. Through several studies, art has illustrated to be a valuable tool in cultivating self-compassion by providing a space for self-expression, emotional processing, and connection with others. With a dearth of research on such art-based interventions present in Singapore focusing on developing self-care capacities, this study aims to close this gap by investigating the efficacy of Slow Art Plus (SAP), an art-based intervention incorporating mindfulness and self-compassion elements in Singapore, in fostering an individual’s self-compassion. 196 adults in Singapore, aged 18 to 85 years, were recruited as part of a mixed-methods design study. Participants underwent a series of quantitative assessments at three timepoints to investigate the SAP’s impact on their self-compassion. Selected participants were invited for focus group discussions to collate their experiences from the intervention (N = 20). A mixed methods and one-way repeated ANOVA test were run to analyse the quantitative data. A thematic analysis and grounded theory approach was adopted in coding and analysing the qualitative data from the discussions. Quantitative findings found a statistically significant interaction between the intervention and participants’ describing and non-reactivity subscale scores. Statistically significant increases in overall mindfulness and overall self-compassion scores were observed. The qualitative findings yielded five themes (Encouraging Reflection, Examining Self, Expanding Horizons, Extending Humanity, Empowering Ownership). These findings reflect SAP’s impact on nurturing individuals’ self-compassion, yet signals the need for further efforts in continuing to cultivate such self-care capacities in Singapore. Keywords: self-compassion, mindfulness, art-based intervention, mixed-method design, Singapore