Lawson, L.M., Williams, P., Glennon, C., Carithers, K., Schnabel, E., Andrejack, A., & Wright, N. (2012). Effect of art making on cancer-related symptoms of blood and marrow transplantation recipients. Oncology Nursing Forum, 39, E353–E360.

To examine the effects of a one-hour art-making session during bone marrow transplantation (BMT) treatment

Interested patients were randomly assigned to the sequence to receive either the art-making session or the control condition first and were then crossed over to the other condition. Art-making sessions were 40–60 minutes. Patients were provided with a ceramic tile, brushes, and paint to create a tile at no cost. Measurements were obtained pre- and postintervention. Patients waited an average of 6.8 days between the treatment and control conditions.

• The study reported on a sample of 20 patients undergoing BMT.
• Mean patient age was 38.5 years, with a range of 20–68 years.
• The sample was 50% male and 50% female.

• Single site
• Inpatient setting
• Kansas

Patients were undergoing active antitumor treatment.

 A crossover pre/post-test design was used.

• Therapy-Related Symptom Checklist
• State-Trait Anxiety Inventory
• Salivary cortisol measurements collected between 9 am and noon

Symptoms declined in post-test measures in both conditions, with significant decline post art making (p = 0.01). There was no significant change in anxiety scores. Salivary cortisol levels declined significantly in both conditions. Time between conditions ranged from 1 to 28 days.

Art making appeared to reduce treatment-related symptoms but had no apparent effect on anxiety.

• The study had a small sample, with less than 30 participants.
• The study had risk of bias due to no blinding, no random assignment, and no appropriate attentional control condition.
• The timing of postintervention measures for each condition is not stated; it is not clear whether these were done immediately after the art-making session, or at what time points they were measured in the control condition. Time between cortisol level measurements also was not stated. In some cases, the time between conditions was only one day, which seems too brief to avoid contamination of effect. 
• Patients self-selected to participate.

This pilot study showed that the art-making session appeared to have an effect in reducing treatment-related symptoms; it is not clear if the art making specifically was effective, or if any diversional activity would have the same result. Findings do not support an effect of art making on anxiety.