This study is to inquire into the effects of group art therapy on the self-efficacy and the occupational stress of childcare teachers. The study subject was 18 childcare teachers in Child Care Centers in J city.
Among them, 9 teachers were arranged as the experimental group who wanted to participate in this group art therapy program, and the other 9 teachers were arranged as the control group who did not want to. For the experimental group, this group art therapy program was carried out during 11 sessions for 120 minutes per session once a week. To verify the effect of this program, the self-efficacy and the occupational stress scale were carried out before and after this program, and then their results were analyzed comparatively. The data materials were analyzed by SPSS(ver. 12.0 for Windows), and by which ANCOVA was carried out to confirm the effectiveness of this program. The results of this study are as follows. Firstly, after this program, the self-efficacy of the experimental group improves more than that of the control group. Secondly, after this program, the occupational stress of the experimental group reduces more than that of the control group. These two results mean that this program helps childcare teachers to undergo a positive change in their self-efficacy and occupational stress. In conclusion, it is clear that this program has a positive effect on the mental health of chlidcare teachers. And further this program is expected to help chlidcare teachers to provide a high-quality education in the actual education field, and also to be a stepping stone for the efficiency in the teachings of childcare teachers.
Key Words : Childcare teacher, Group art therapy, Self-efficacy, Occupational stress.