ABI – Art-based Intervention Questionnaire

•Presents a tool for self-report on one's participation in an art based intervention.•Suggests four categories of participants’ reactions to creating with art materials.•Describes validation process of 10 factors which were identified in factor analysis.

This study describes the development of the Art-based Intervention (ABI) Questionnaire, a self-report instrument that examines the creative process as experienced in art therapy and in educational interventions. A qualitative analysis of reflections documented by 120 students who participated in workshop sessions for creating with art materials rendered 50 questionnaire items, which pertain to four main categories: 1. Feelings and thoughts preceding the artistic process, 2. Feelings and thoughts occurring during the artistic process, 3. Attitude toward the artistic product, and 4. Approaches to the material. In the second stage of the study, 291 volunteers created with art materials and filled the ABI and the Session Evaluation Questionnaire (SEQ). Factor analysis demonstrated ten factors in all four categories together. Internal reliabilities for the ABI scales ranged between α = .453 and α = .909. Significant correlations found between the ABI and the SEQ subscales indicate that overall, the two instruments are similar but not identical, thus demonstrating concurrent validity of the ABI. The validation process and the meaning of the resulting subscales are discussed.