The Effect of Short-Term Semi-Structured Art-Based Intervention on Executive Functions and Psychological Symptoms in High School Students: Preliminary Findings

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of five weeks of art-based intervention applications on working memory, inhibition, psychological symptoms, and cognitive emotion regulation strategies in adolescents. The research was conducted using a quasi-experimental pre-test–post-test control group design with random assignment at the grade level. Two of the four 10th-grade students who volunteered to participate were assigned tothe intervention group, and two to the control group. The intervention group participated in art-based intervention sessions lasting 40–45 minutes once a week for five weeks, while the control group received no intervention. Before and after the intervention, all participants completed the Letter-Number Sequence Test, Stroop Test TBAG Form, Brief Symptom Inventory, Cognitive Emotion Regulation Scale, andSelf-Regulation Scale. Data wereanalyzed using mixed-methods analysis of covariance for 2(Group) × 2(Time) repeated measures, with gender, age, and post-test administrator variables included as covariates in the model. The findings showed significant group × time interactions favoring the intervention group in Letter-Number Sequence test and Stroop test performance. While a shift in depression scores favoring the intervention group was observed in terms of psychological symptoms, this finding did not retain statistical significance after Holm–Bonferroni correction. No significant group × time interactions were found in cognitive emotion regulation strategies, self-regulation, and other psychological symptom subdimensions. Inconclusion, thesefindings suggestthatshort-termart-basedinterventionmaysupportexecutivefunctions such as working memory and inhibition in adolescents within the scope of school-based preventive mental health practices.