A n educational program based on art therapeutic techniques for volunteers for dementia families has been developed to reinforce the volunteers with some expertise that could make the volunteers become expert-helpers. This study purports to check whether this educational program can be useful to improve the quality of dementia family’s life, by testing the program on the subjects of stress, communication, personal relations, and self-esteem. The study subjects are all 8 2 graduate students in the department of art therapy who participated in the program as part of their 40 hour training. The results are as follows.
The program has 16 subdivisions of art therapeutic techniques, consuming 40 hours in training, to alleviate the stress of dementia families, to improve their communication skills, to maintain amicable relations with others, so that the program can enhance their self-esteem. Among the subdivided training programs, the program of self-esteem marks the highest with M =4.36, then the personal relations program with M =4.28, then the communication program with M =4.19, and finally the stress program with M =4.02. It turns out that the stress management program is very helpful in seeking the stress released and solved. The communication program helps understand the importance of listening, speaking, and empathizing with insight about communication modes. The personal relations program turns out greatly helpful in realizing problems and modes of personal relations.
The self-esteem program helps re-discover the merits about themselves, which enhance
their self-esteem with clear future purposes
Key Words : Art Therapeutic Techniques, Expert-Helpers for Dementia, Volunteering, Dementia Family