["About me and my disease" - the making of an individual book within an art therapy course for cancer patients].

AIMS: Art therapy is increasingly gaining in importance in psychooncological care. At the university of Leipzig an art therapy intervention was developed for cancer patients in ambulant aftercare and was tested in retrospect. The aim of the course was making an individual book-object, in which the cancer could be a central topic.
METHODS: Before and after the intervention the participants were questioned using semi-structured interviews. Beside the qualitative analysis of the interviews the process of the course and the making of the book were demonstrated using the example of a breast cancer patient.
RESULTS: The participants reported various effects of the intervention. In all, 17 of 23 participants have created her own book. More than 75 % of the books created pick out their own cancer disease as a central theme. The participants deal with the subject in different ways. All participants placed themselves at the center and the majority created the book for themselves.
CONCLUSION: The results show that the making of an individual book permits a constructive analysis with the cancer disease in a protected framework and can have a supportive effect on the participants in dealing with their disease. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.