Qualitative Analysis of Drawings of the Process of Psychotherapeutic Change: Proposal to Promote the Participation of Children in the Research Context
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Date
2025
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Springer, Cham
Abstract
Drawings constitute an innovative and developmentally sensitive methodology for the participation of children in psychotherapy research. However, their analysis in this context is less developed. A tradition of projective analysis has prevailed, based on the interpretation made by the adult world, which distances from the objective of delving into the children’s narrative. The aim of this chapter is to delve into a proposal for qualitative analysis of drawings of the therapeutic change process in the context of child psychotherapy research, focused on the narrative intention of the children. For this purpose, the “Qualitative Analysis Guideline for Drawings of Therapeutic Change Process” developed by the authors is presented, and its use is exemplified through the analysis of the drawing “how I was before/how I am after psychotherapy” of a 6-year-8-month-old girl after completing her treatment. Other possible uses of the Guideline used in research developed by the authors are also presented. It is concluded that the proposed analysis Guideline allows for a detailed exploration of the visual and verbal narrative of the drawings in the context of psychotherapy research while facilitating the systematic analysis of its content, highlighting the subjective experiences of therapeutic change in children. Finally, the benefits of using the drawing analysis guideline adjusted to the research context are discussed, as it facilitates the study of the contents in an organized, systematic, and replicable manner, thereby supporting the future development and refinement of this methodology. The objective of promoting and highlighting the narrative intention and subjective experience of the children is also achieved, representing an advance in participatory research with this population.
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Keywords
Counseling Psychology, Gestalt Psychology, Psychoanalysis, Qualitative Psychology, Psychotherapy