Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies, University of Nairobi
Abstract
The purpose of this paper was to establish the effectiveness of art therapy as a treatment fordepression at Langata Women Prison (LWP) in Nairobi. The paper was anchored on Bandura’ssocial learning theory and cognitive behavioral theory and the paper’s unit of analysis constitutedimprisoned women at LWP. The Becks Depression Inventory (BDI-II) assessment 21-item self-reportscale, both in English and Swahili was given to a sample size of 217 women prisoners’ in-order toidentify the presence and severity levels of depression. Out of the 217 respondents, 104 were those inprison and 113 in remand. However, the research was only done with those in remand (ordinary andcapital offenders) as those in the prison had on-going programs that would be disrupted if they wereto be engaged in the research. The BDI-II (pre-test) questionnaires were distributed to determine thelevels of depression. A sample of 113 from the remands was selected based on their levels ofdepression and 55 responded. The treatment group met for six sessions once a week for two hours.After six weeks group was subjected again to BDI-II (post-test). Results indicated that most of theincarcerated women suffered from severe depression; there were more remands who were found tohave depression; there were more cases of severe depression cases in both remand and prison andless inmates in prison with mild depression. However, there was a marked difference of moderatelevels of depression between remands and prisoners, with those in remand having a higher level ofmoderate depression. From the analysis, there was a significant reduction of depression afteradministering art therapy (post-test) versus before art therapy (pre-test) treatment. The findingssupport the findings of various studies that have been done in other countries. Based on the resultsfrom this paper, at the time of arrest, mental assessment should be done and those that require furtherassessment need to be referred to a psychiatrist as well as support from a psychologist; specialattention should be given to mothers; and for those who end up in prison, periodic screening shouldbe undertaken together with counselling and alternative therapy. In addition, the legal system shouldescalate court matters to avoid prolonged stay in remand and enhance public awareness on mentalhealth. This research focussed on incarcerated women at LWP and therefore the results should begeneralized with caution to other prisons in Kenya. Another limitation was that some respondentstended to minimize and at the same time exaggerate symptoms and the self-administered datacollection questionnaires depended on self-report, without medical records or corroborative history.For further research a similar intervention could be replicated in other women and men prisons, as well as compare depression amongst women and men prisoners.Key Words: art therapy, Bandura’s social learning theory, Becks Depression Inventory II,
