The Improvisational Theater in the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatient Standard Care: An Explorative, Comparative Study

In this study, improvisational theater was investigated in the context of child and adolescent inpatient psychiatric treatment. In a non-randomized, uncontrolled, and explorative study, 29 inpatients participated in an improvisational theater group and in a therapeutic sports group at the same time. To compare the subjective changes after participating in both groups, patients were asked to rate changes in symptom severity on single-question-scales retrospectively. Patients' self-reports indicated that positive changes in most symptoms (e. g. mood, spontaneity, cohesion within the group) were more pronounced after the theater group than after the sports group. Improvisational theater is a novel and promising group offering in inpatient care. The benefits are high, considering the relatively little amount of effort required. Due to methodological limitations, however, changes in symptoms cannot be ascribed to the intervention causally, and further research is necessary.