TY - JOUR
PY - 2014//
TI - Effect of calligraphy training on hyperarousal symptoms for childhood survivors of the 2008 China earthquakes
JO - Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment
A1 - Zhu, Zhuohong
A1 - Wang, Richu
A1 - Kao, Henry Sr
A1 - Zong, Yan
A1 - Liu, Zhengkui
A1 - Tang, Shan
A1 - Xu, Min
A1 - Liu, Ivy Cy
A1 - Lam, Stewart Pw
SP - 977
EP - 985
VL - 10
IS -
N2 - BACKGROUND: This study investigated the treatment effects of calligraphy therapy on childhood survivors of the 2008 Sichuan earthquakes in the People's Republic of China.
METHODS: In experiment 1, 129 children participated in a 30-day calligraphic training, and 81 children were controls. The Children's Revised Impact of Event Scale was adopted to assess behavioral effects. Experiment 2 involved 41 treatment subjects and 39 controls, with the same procedure as in experiment 1 except that salivary cortisol level was also measured as a physiological indicator.
RESULTS: After 30 days of calligraphy treatment, the arousal symptoms and salivary cortisol levels in the experimental group decreased from 5.72±0.31 and 13.34±2.88 to 4.98±0.31 and 9.99±2.81, respectively. In the control group, there was not a significant decrease from pretest to post-test. In addition, the arousal scores in posttest (4.98±4.39) were significantly lower than midtest (5.71±4.14) for girls; in contrast, for boys, posttest (4.90±4.24) showed little change compared with midtest (5.04±4.36), but both were significantly lower than pretest (6.42±4.59).
CONCLUSIONS: Calligraphy therapy was effective in reducing hyperarousal symptoms among child survivors.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 1176-6328 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S55016 ID - ref1 ER -