A Process Description of Playing to Live! A Community Psychosocial Arts Program During Ebola

From 2014 to 2015, Liberia experienced the largest Ebola epidemic in world history. The impact of this disease was not only physical; it created fear, loss, and trauma throughout the country. This article will describe the process of three phases of a community-based psychosocial expressive arts program, which used theory from the fields of expressive arts therapy to build mental health capacity during and after the epidemic. This article will highlight the background of Ebola virus disease and the Ebola virus disease epidemic, provide an overview of current theory and research for expressive arts therapy and the impact of trauma, describe the process of how the program developed and was implemented, the process of partnering with the community, program components, the two pilot programs, and the large-scale community program. We performed a mixed-methods analysis of the large-scale program’s activity data to evaluate the impact. The results highlight a positive response from the participating children and facilitators. The authors discuss the findings from the results, best practices, and limitations. Additionally, the authors discuss implications and considerations for future programming

The Evaluation of a Psychosocial Expressive Arts Program in Liberia During the Ebola Epidemic

Disaster, community-wide trauma, and epidemics can have devastating effects on a child’s emotional and psychological wellbeing (Wethington, Hahn, Fuqua-Whitley et al., 2008). The 2014-2015 Liberian Ebola epidemic was detrimental to a country still recovering from a 14-year war. In Liberia alone there were 10,678 confirmed cases and 4,810 Ebola deaths (CDC, 2016). The physical, emotional, and psychological toll of this epidemic was extraordinary. An United States non-profit, Playing to Live (PTL), worked alongside the Liberian government, ministries and local and international organizations to find an innovative solution to the psychological and emotional healing of children and families most affected. This solution used best practices in expressive arts therapy, mental health, and train the trainer models. The purposes of these studies were to evaluate the process of the PTL programming, the outcome effects based on pre-and posttests of child participants psychological stress symptoms (PSS), and explore lessons learned and implications for future programming. Process evaluation results indicated positive reactions to programming from both facilitators and child participants. Results also brought forth considerations for future programming. Outcome data from the pre-and post PSS symptoms showed a significant decrease for both 5-months and 3-months of PTL programming. In addition, a significant difference on pre-and post-symptoms for the 5-month and 3-month treatment groups was found, indicating that longer treatment yields greater results. A review of best practices and lessons learned was discussed for future implications for PTL and similar programs