Browsing by Subject "avioero"

The aim of the thesis was to study the elements that affect emotional well-being in a support group for divorced individuals, how making crafts simultaneously when discussing the emotions related to the divorce affect the discussion and how these emotions are reflected in the handicrafts. Previous studies have shown that making crafts has a positive effect on emotional well-being and it also assists individuals in discussing difficult emotions when crafts are being made in a social setting. Approximately 14 000 marriages end in divorce in Finland annually. It is important to the individual’s emotional well-being to find out the underlying reasons leading to the divorce. This is also important that dysfunctional behaviour is not repeated in future relationships. Even though divorced individuals pay to attend support groups to discuss their feelings and to ease the emotional pain related to the breakup of the marriage, they still have difficulties to recognise, accept and discuss these strong feelings, e.g. anger and sorrow. Five women and one man participated in the study. The support group met four times in a time span of one and a half weeks. No crafts were made during the first meeting. Data for the study was collected via open-ended questionnaires and a forced choice questionnaire. The last two meetings were recorded audio-visually, but only minor parts of the recorded discussions were transcribed. Several elements that affect emotional well-being were present in the support group. Making crafts simultaneously affected the discussion in a positive way, and the crafts reflected the discussed emotions. Based on the study it was evident that a divorce support group in which crafts are made is a working concept regarding promoting emotional well-being. In a thera-peutic setting making textile handicrafts is similar to painting or drawing that are used in tradi-tional art therapies.