Dyadic art psychotherapy: Key principles, practices and competences

• A lack of clarity about the process of art psychotherapy limits the possibility of outcome studies.
• A panel of experts have agreed on thirty-one principles, practices and competences (PPCs) for the delivery of dyadic art psychotherapy.
• These PPCs could be used to guide practice and evaluation and as the basis for future research.

A recent survey indicates that a dyadic parent–child approach to art psychotherapy is being used by 60% of British art psychotherapists working with children and young people with some degree of frequency (Taylor Buck, Dent-Brown, & Parry, 2012). However, currently there is insufficiently robust evidence to support the efficacy of this approach. Outcome-based studies are needed to demonstrate efficacy, and an important first step in designing such research is to establish an accepted definition of the process and practices of dyadic art psychotherapy. A two-round Delphi process was used to seek consensus on the core therapeutic principles, practices, and competences required for the delivery of dyadic art psychotherapy. Consensus was reached on ten principles, six practices and fifteen competences required for the delivery of art psychotherapy which could be used in practice, evaluation, and future outcome-based research.