Drawings as a method of evaluation and communication with bereaved children

Abstract

There is much concern over childhood grief when death strikes in the child’s immediate environment. If the experience of bereavement can be reliably measured in children, insight into their painful experiences will be gained and appropriate treatment strategies will be established. This study aimed to explore whether projective drawings could provide a reliable method of exploring the world of a black bereaved child. The Human Figure Drawing (HFD), Self Portrait, Kinetic Family drawing (KFD) and Own Choice/ spontaneous Drawing techniques were administered with a group of 20 bereaved children and a control group of 20 non bereaved children. In general, more emotional indicators were identified on HFDs and Self Portraits of the Bereaved Group. Results showed statistically significant differences between the two groups on four indicators in HFDs (big figure; teeth; monster/grotesque; hands cut off) and on two indicators in Self Portrait (slanting figure and hands cut off) KFDs and Own Choice Drawings could not statistically differentiate the two groups but were found to be of assistance in gaining insight into the family dynamics and for improving grief work respectively, in the bereaved group. Composite analysis of the four projective drawings provided more insight into the world of the bereaved child

Keyword: Drawings; method; evaluation; communication; bereaved children, psychology.