This study was conducted in order to understand the effects of color-using art therapy on the
quality-of-life of patients with vitiligo. A total of 10 art therapy sessions on 18 patients diagnosed with vitiligo at a single university hospital who have agreed to participate in this study was selected.
Each therapy session was held for 60 minutes once a week. Also, in order to verify the effects of the art therapy, this study used Skindex developed by Chren et al.
The results of this study showed that the overall quality-of-life score of vitiligo patients was
significantly reduced at the end of the study compared to that of the pretreatment test(p<0.05).
Significant decreases(p<0.01) were observed in the scores of 8 traits: cognitive, social, depression, fear, embarrassment, anger, discomfort, limitations.
The quality-of-life score of each gender showed that the score on physical limitations was significantly decreased in women while the score on cognitive was significantly decreased in men. As for the quality-of-life in respect to the prevalence period, the score was significantly reduecd in terms of physical limitation and physical discomport in the group with prevalence periods of over 5 years while reduced cognitive, social, depression and anger in the group with prevalence periods below 5 years.
In conclusion, the color-using art therapy brings positive changes in the quality-of-life of patients with vitiligo, making it an useful method in assisting patients to overcome and improve their social and mental disabilities, and the author speculate that art therapy can be helpful in treating the mental and psychological disabilities caused by various other illnesses in the future.
Key Words : Vitiligo, Quality of Life, Skindex, Art Therapy