Effects of art therapy on stress and anxiety of employees

Funding Information: This work was supported by grant 05.1835 of the Latvian Council of Science.The study was designed to determine if art therapy has any effect on the stress and anxiety of employees. The results demonstrated that before and after art therapy in the study group, the level of the stress indicator (cortisol) over twenty-four hours and also the state of anxiety decreased significantly (P < 0.05). The mean final stress level and situational anxiety for the study group were significantly lower (P < 0.05) than those for the control group. No significant changes were found for trait anxiety in any of the groups. These findings suggest that art therapy for employees is a preventive measure for a person to understand stress situations and to be capable to manage their anxiety, react adequately and to cope with stress, thus improving the quality of life by creative means.Peer reviewe