This current review of the literature attempts to identify all published empirical evidence regarding art therapy effectiveness. The authors attempt to identify any outcome trends associated with study design (single group with no control group, controlled clinical trial, and randomized controlled clinical trial) and to review the overall literature base concerning art therapy effectiveness. The literature search identifies 17 published studies which met the authors' inclusion criteria. Results show that these three types of study designs produce very similar results regarding the positive effects of art therapy, but their conclusions may appear very different. The clarification of study design differences may lend some insight into the perceived effectiveness of art therapy.

There is a growing consensus that school psychologists, researchers, and policy makers need to work together to define policies and promote procedures for keeping schools safe for young children. This article advocates for the need to design, evaluate, and implement school-based prevention programs that focus upon decreasing the daily aggression and victimization that occur in elementary schools across the nation. Not only do these daily occurrences of aggression affect young children's school and social adjustment in elementary school, but they also have the potential to result in more serious outbreaks of school violence in the future. Five model programs are reviewed in an effort to define best practices in aggression prevention programming and to outline future directions for the field. The importance of defining school aggression broadly, designing comprehensive prevention and intervention services, utilizing culturally sensitive outcome measures across informants and important school contexts, and providing empirical support to document program efficacy are discussed in detail. In addition, policy implications and the key role that school psychologists play in the challenge to reduce aggression is highlighted.

The resiliency of families, based on family functioning and family hardiness, may influence caregivers' anxiety while their child is in the hospital undergoing treatment for his or her chronic illness. The current study assessed the relationship among these factors for caregivers of children with various chronic illnesses who were residing at a local Ronald McDonald House (RMH). Caregivers completed paper-based questionnaires to assess family hardiness, functioning, and parent state anxiety and interviews to identify positive and negative strategies and behaviors affecting how they were coping with their child's illness. Findings indicated that family functioning mediated the relationship between family hardiness and caregiver anxiety as a resilience factor that further reduced caregiver anxiety. During interviews, caregivers suggested that support from family members strengthened their coping abilities. Negative interactions with their child's medical team and not knowing how or being equipped to help their child live with his or her illness heightened caregiver stress. Future research should focus on developing, implementing, and measuring the effectiveness of interventions to improve caregiver support, such as by holding caregiver support groups at local RMHs, especially during a child's hospitalization.