Computer-Supported Distance Art Therapy: A Focus on Traumatic Illness

SUMMARY We propose computer-supported distance art therapy as an innovative and inexpensive form of telehealth, and present a rationale for developing distance art therapy services for people with traumatic illnesses. The rationale is based on four current trends: (a) the aging of the population, (b) a shift in focus in the field of telehealth, (c) an increase in psychosocial treatments for people with traumatic physical illnesses, and (d) the recent burgeoning of the art and healing movement. Forms of telehealth such as computer-supported distance art therapy have both a technical and a human dimension, which need to be developed in parallel. Our process of participatory development and initial feasibility assessment was part of a cross-disciplinary collaboration involving the two authors (an artist/counselor and a computer scientist) and a participatory design team of ten others.