Art as an Evaluative Tool: A Pilot Study

Support groups for grieving children are widely used in the United States. Despite the popularity of these support groups, there has been very little effort to evaluate their effectiveness. This article reports on a pilot study completed in preparation for a multisite study of the effectiveness of children's grief support groups. The pilot study used art therapy to assess children's perspectives of their experience in a grief support group. Three themes emerged from the data: the vulnerability of grieving children, the importance of maintaining memories, and the contribution of the group to the process of grieving. Results of the study support the use of art as an effective qualitative tool that can be utilized in future evaluations of children's grief groups.