Browsing by Subject "itsehoito"

Purpose. In today’s society we have a lot of pressure on us and have fast-paced lifestyles. In this hectic goal-oriented life, handicrafts, representing slow living, have gained popularity and attained media attention. However, handicrafts are not acknowledged in scientific fields as well as music and visual arts. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between handicrafts and well-being, as well as how handicrafts have been implemented in rehabilitation or therapy of clinical groups comprising different mental health disorders and progressive memory disorders. Methods. The data for this thesis were collected from Google Scholar, Scopus and PubMed. The following keywords were used: knitting, handicrafts, handcrafts, well-being, wellbeing, psycholog*, therapy, stress and anxiety. The Finnish keywords käsityö, psyykkinen hyvinvointi and terapia were also used. Results and conclusions. Since most of the studies in the field are descriptive, we cannot talk about causality but only correlation. Nevertheless, it has been concluded that the handcrafters report handicrafts having many positive effects on their well-being. In addition to the direct mental health benefits, handicrafts seem to have indirect effects on well-being through different kind of cognitive and social phenomena. When it comes to different clinical samples, positive correlation between handicrafts and well-being has also been detected. These results support the hypothesis that handicrafts may have therapeutic effects. Based on the studies conducted so far, it seems justified to use handicrafts in therapy or as a part of therapy or self-care. However, more experimental studies are needed to be able to tell how we can use handicrafts more effectively and for whom it is most suitable.