Telehealth: THE DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION
OF A COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR DISTANCE ART THERAPY
by: Kate Collie and Davor Cubranic
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
December, 1997
Since 1997, we have been working on the development and evaluation of computer-supported
distance art therapy, combining Kate's experience in psychology and art with Davor's experience in
computer science. For this study, we developed a low-bandwidth computer system (that can be handled
by standard home computers) that supports synchronous communication by speech and sharable
hand-drawn images. The system allows a therapist or facilitator to lead art activities with a
distributed group of people--each at a computer--and while doing this to see the computer drawings
these people are making.
We developed the system using a methodology from the field of human-computer interaction
called participatory design, which is used to give future users of computer systems a say in
development of the systems they will be using. By involving potential future users in the
development we were able to explore the feasibility of computer-supported distance art therapy and
to use the interactive development process as a way of uncovering issues and concerns to consider
when planning distance mental health services.
In the final stage of participatory design process, we worked with 10 potential users who
could offer perspectives on matters we thought would be important, such as the ethics of on-line
therapy and the needs of people with mobility limitations. We did a content analysis of the focus
group discussions we had with these people after they had used the system, to determine what issues
and concerns had been raised.
Four of the issues that were revealed by the analysis stood out as particularly
noteworthy. These were (a) problems associated with technical failure, especially interruptions to
a session as a result of unexpected disconnection; (b) the relevance of computer-supported
art-based distance mental health services for people with disabilities; (c) the need for clearly
established communication guidelines for on-line group interaction; and (d) difficulties and
limitations caused by the lack of shared physical presence of another human being, even when the
problem of lack of visual cues has been overcome.
Overall, the responses we received during the first stages of our participatory design
process were positive enough that we will move forward with the development.
(Please note: We are using the term art therapy generically to mean any form of therapy during
which clients makes art.)
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