Seven years after an initial survey of art therapists that explored digital media use and training, the survey was re-issued to determine how art therapists’ perceptions, practices, and training related to the use of digital media in art therapy have evolved, and whether or not this evolution in understanding and use of digital media kept pace with that of the general population. Both surveys targeted 250 art therapists each. The first survey was conducted through email and the second survey was conducted using Survey Monkey. After comparing the two surveys to each other and trends from the general population, it was determined that the adoption of digital technology by art therapists to manage their practice has kept pace with the general population. The use of digital media as an art tool within practice is increasing quickly, but with reservations. The main reservation that art therapists cite about using digital media surrounds ethical issues. Generally the training in the use of digital media by art therapists has not kept up with the adoption rate of technology by art therapists. Thus more training for art therapists in the use of digital media is needed, particularly in the area of understanding ethics that surrounds its use.
In 2004, fresh from my Doctoral work, I conducted a survey of 250 American Art Therapy Association (AATA) art therapists in order to determine the perceptions of practicing art therapists towards the use of technology. I wondered whether or not art therapists felt prepared by their graduate programs to use technology within their practices (Orr, 2006). At the time of this research, I stated that art therapists needed to address this issue because teens were using many digital devices such as MP3 players and cell phones for entertainment and communication, which was having a large impact on their communication modes. In 2004, The Kaiser Family Foundation Study found that teens spend an average 6.5 h a day with media—and managed to pack in more than 8.5 h through multitasking (Kaiser Family Foundation Study, 2009). Today (2011) the average teen spends more than 7.5 h a day using digital media because they can now access media content from their phones, computers, TV, and game consoles, and that does not include the time they spend texting. Added to this average, teens multitask their media, like listening to a digital music device while surfing the Internet, more than they ever have before. In this way, they pack nearly 11 h of media time into that 7.5 h (Kaiser Family Foundation Study, 2009). The use of digital media is the way teens and young adults communicate, socialize, and express themselves. This 34% increase in 5 years in media use points even more strongly to the need for art therapists to understand and use these same tools, so that they can meet their clients where they are, and can help them to move towards where they want to be.
In 2009, Cathy Malchiodi wrote an article titled Art Therapy Meets Digital Art and Social Multimedia, in which she stated that digital media is being adopted quickly by art therapy clientele, but “Ironically, art therapy as a field is a slow adopter of new ideas.” Her point was that the field of art therapy is lagging behind other related fields, such as visual arts, counseling, and education in their understanding and adoption of these new media and communication platforms.
Thus, 7 years after my first survey of art therapists recording digital media use, I have re-issued the survey in order to determine how our perceptions, practices, and training as art therapists related to the use of digital media in art therapy have evolved, and whether or not this evolution in our understanding and use of digital media is keeping pace with that of the general population. For the rest of the article, I will refer to the 2004 survey as Survey 1 (Orr, 2006) and the 2011 survey as Survey 2.
Survey 1 was conducted to determine the perceptions of practicing art therapists towards the use of technology within art therapy, and whether or not art therapists felt prepared by their graduate programs to use technology within their practices (Orr, 2006). Survey 2 was conducted in order to determine how our perceptions, practices, and training as art therapists related to the use of digital media in art therapy have evolved, and whether or not this evolution in our understanding and use of digital media in art therapy is keeping pace with that of the general population. The comparison of these two surveys shows that art therapists are increasing their knowledge and use of technology in art therapy at a parallel rate with that of the general population in their everyday lives. However, because art therapists started at a much lower adoption rate in 2004 than did the general public, we remain lower in our use of technology as digital media within art therapy practice than does the general public.
It is perhaps appropriate that art therapists who have not had training in the use of technology in art therapy practice are slow to adopt technology in their practices. The comparison of these two surveys points to the fact that art therapists are still exploring and learning about the nature, use, and qualities of technology and digital media.
