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BAAT Surveys

Survey of Newly Qualified Art Therapists

Earlier this year BAAT undertook a survey of Art Therapists who qualified in the years 2008,9,10 regarding their subsequent employment.

Art Therapy Users Survey

During October 2010 - April 2011 we carried out a questionnaire on art therapies which focused on access, types of and outcomes for service users with mental health issues. These questionnaires were devised in consultation with all the four arts therapies (Art, Dance/Movement, Drama and Music Therapies) and disseminated through the official websites of all the Arts Therapies Professional Bodies. They were logged onto a "Monkey" survey hosted for the purpose of analysis by the British Association of Art Therapists

Feedback on BAAT courses

An audit of feedback forms from the 2010 BAAT courses yielded high scores in participants' satisfaction:  74% were rated as 'very good', 15% as 'good' and 1% as 'average'. 74% of tutors were rated as 'very helpful' and 16% as 'Helpful'. The BAAT is very proud of these results and will continue to ensure it provides high quality trainings.

Results from our yearly survey of newly qualified Art Therapists qualified in 2007, 2008 or 2009.

(With thanks to Richard Whittaker.) These surveys help us to make strategic plans for promoting art therapy to potential employers.

Executive summary

Key findings:

This is the first survey in which we might be beginning to see the effects of the economic downturn, with employment rates down 8 % over last year's results  (82%) and 12% over the last 2 surveys  (85%). Further findings are:

  • The percentage of those qualifying in the last three years who have gained employment as Art Therapists stands at 58%, a decrease from last year's figure of 67%.
  • The percentage of employment roles when employment has not be as an Art Therapist, this year's response of 37% represents only a 3% drop from last year's figures when asked if  employed in generic roles. Further to this there is no difference between last year's results where newly qualifier's have introduced Art Therapy, 22% work solely as Art Therapists.
  • The average time taken to find employment as an Art Therapist from those qualifying in 2007 was 7 months, 10 months for those qualifying in 2008 and 2.5 months for the most recent qualifiers.
  • There continues to be a trend as with previous surveys where 60% of all respondents are not members of a Union.

Where respondents were asked to comment on their experiences of finding employment, key points raised:

  • Continued difficulty of gaining experience post qualifying for posts within the NHS.
  • Varying perceptions and lack of awareness of the profession across the non statutory and in some instances statutory sector.
  • No consistency in pay rates.
  • Lack of skills in order to apply for more generic roles.
  • Being over qualified.
  • The regional imbalance regarding Job opportunities.

Conclusion:

With this most recent survey we may be beginning to see the effects of an economic downturn, employment figures are down 8 % from last year. Some comfort may be gained from the little change in employment figures where graduates have introduced art therapy and or work in more generic roles; this stands at 58% compared to last year's figure of 63% a drop of only 5 %.

Reviewing respondent's comments on their experience of finding work, a recurrent theme that is mentioned is again linked to training needs, as with last year's survey. Notably, where graduates have indeed mentioned this they have pointed towards the need for more generic skills for the posts that are being advertised. Of note increasingly within the NHS post are advertised across all disciplines that include Nursing, Social Work, and Occupational Therapy, these post would be  theoretically  open to Art Therapists with the right skills.

Whilst the promotion of Art Therapy continues as always through BAAT members, its networks and Council, the greatest positive impact  for Art Therapy jobs has to come from research that demonstrates both clinical and cost effectiveness of Art Therapy.

Download full report and graphs  from here  (pdf) >>

2008 survey report (pdf) >>

Results of the 2007 survey (PowerPoint)

Looked after children (LAC) Questionnaire (NICE survey)

We would like to find out the scope of arts and play therapies with looked after children and young people. NICE are reviewing their guidelines for therapy for looked after children. This is a time for arts and play therapists to let NICE know of the extent of work in this field. If you have worked with a child in local authority care in the last 2 years please can you fill in this on-line questionnaire. You do not have to identify yourself but if you are willing to take part in a more detailed questionnaire at a later date then please add you contact details. Download questionnaire (.doc) >>

Thank you for your co-operation.
Joy Hasler on behalf of the Arts Therapy LAC group.

Arts Therapies within Adult Mental Health Service

The results of the first pilot survey of Arts Therapies within Adult Mental Health Service are now available. The questionnaire was devised in collaboration with the Arts Therapies Professional Bodies, and over 200 service users took part in it. The results are very positive, and can be used in any documents for commissioners, managers, etc. We will be analyzing the verbal feedback that clients gave us on the forms, and publishing this in the near future (where their permission has been granted).

The graphs on page 4 show: Helpfulness / Time in therapy and Importance/ Time in therapy. This rated the helpfulness of the Arts Therapies and the Importance of the Arts Media for the clients. We decided to show this in separate bands of length of time in therapy, as we thought that these questions would be answered differently depending on whether someone had just started to engage or was a longer-term client.

We will now refine the questionnaire and launch this nationally in the autumn. We will then continue the process of capturing our clients' voices and their views of Arts Therapies by developing similar questionnaires for Children, Adolescents and families, People with Learning Difficulties, etc. We hope that this will give Arts Therapists some data to represent themselves to commissioners and managers.

Graphical results (pdf)