Objectifying the sand tray: An initial example of three-dimensional art image analysis for assessment

The purpose of this research was to explore placement and count of standardized sand tray figures based on a sample of adults (n = 5) completing the Erica Method in an effort to address the need for higher accuracy in sand tray assessment ( Bowyer, 1970, Danielson, 1998 and Sjolund, 1981). This study demonstrated image analysis capabilities and limitations in assessing both 3-dimensional object count and placement, which are important clinical sand tray assessment components ( Bolgar and Fischer, 1947, Buhler, 1951 and Danielson, 1998). Public domain image analysis software (PDIAS, Mattson, 2009) objectively determined total sand tray figure count and total sand tray figure area used. Human raters (n = 4) assessed the same criteria. Human-PDIAS inter-rater reliability was higher than human inter-rater reliability. As a result, computerized rating may hold potential for more efficient rating based on this study.