This study purport to the use of Korean painting as the medium to find out the effects of group art
therapy on cognitive function and depression of the aged with dementia. The participants of this study are
aged patients with dementia from “S” Health Care Facility for the Elderly. They have entered this health
care facility after being diagnosed with dementia. Among 200 inpatients, the participants with mild-severe
dementia in this study have been classified into two groups: thirteen participants for the experiment group
including 4 dropout and ten participants for the controlled group. This study was performed with a total of
15 trials of 60 minutes once a week for Jan to May 2013. excluding preliminary and post examination. As
the methods for this study, the Korean version of Revised Hasegawa Dementia scale(HDS-K) were used to
examine the changes in participants’ cognitive function. And Cornell Scale for Depression in
Dementia(CSDD) was also utilized to find out the participants’ changes in depression. In every session, data
from the participants were collected through the voice records and observations for a qualitative analysis.
The results are as follows: As the results, first, the group art therapy using Korean painting materials
produced positive effects on improving cognitive function of the aged with dementia. Secondly, this group
art therapy used for this study helped the dementia-suffering aged patients to decrease depression. Thus,
this group art therapy using Korean painting media produced positive effects on the changes of cognitive
function and depression for the elders with dementia.