The effects of art therapy with clay on emotion regulation, stress, and hormone levels in secondary school students

A study on the effects of art therapy with clay intervention program on emotion regulation strategies, psychological stress and cortisol rhythm of secondary school students: A randomized controlled trial

Status

Active, not recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ISRCTN

Registry ID

ISRCTN96947690

Enrollment

122

Registered

2020-01-08

Start date

2019-09-01

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2020-04-27

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Depression Mental and Behavioural Disorders Depressive episode

Interventions

Participants who fulfill the screening test will be randomly assigned to either the clay art intervention group or the waitlist control group on a 1:1 basis with matched demographics. The clay art gro

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: 1. Hong Kong S.4-5 students, aged between 15 and 17 (this age range may have included children who are newly emigrated from the mainland) 2. Ability to understand and communicate in Cantonese 3. Suitable and able to perform activities in groups during the course of the 6-week program 4. Students with DASS depressive subscale scores in the 9-21 range will be recruited for the current research and scores on the other two subscales (anxiety and stress) will be used as controlled variables during data analysis

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: 1. Diagnosed with mood disorder, anxiety disorder, or any other psychiatric disorder that required medical treatment, or professional intervention during the past 12 months 2. With other medical conditions that are likely to limit group participation during the course of the 6-week program

Design outcomes

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
Experiences of the intervention measured using focus groups at completion of the intervention	—

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Measured at T0 (baseline), T1 (right after intervention) and T2 (2 months after intervention): 1. Salivary cortisol measured using the “Salivette” kits (Starstedt, Ag & Co., Numbrecht, Germany) 2. Emotion regulation measured using the State Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (S-DERS) 3. Emotion measured using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) 4. Anxiety and depression measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) 5. Emotional awareness measured using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20)	—

Measure

Time frame

Measured at T0 (baseline), T1 (right after intervention) and T2 (2 months after intervention): 1. Salivary cortisol measured using the “Salivette” kits (Starstedt, Ag & Co., Numbrecht, Germany) 2. Emotion regulation measured using the State Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (S-DERS) 3. Emotion measured using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) 4. Anxiety and depression measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) 5. Emotional awareness measured using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20)

—

Countries

Hong Kong

Contacts

Public ContactJoshua Nan

joshuanan@hkbu.edu.hk+852 34112009

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ISRCTN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026