This systematic review with narrative synthesis aimed to identify the forms of art therapy practice, types of studies conducted, outcomes reported, and experiences described in the literature for people with learning disabilities who also experienced mental distress.

Papers in English, describing art therapy practice or therapeutic art interventions which addressed mental distress with adults with learning disabilities were included. Database searches were conducted using Healthcare Databases Advanced Search (HDAS), PubMed and American Psychological Association PsycInfo. Hand searches of grey literature were also conducted. Relevance and quality assessment ratings were carried out on each included paper. Results were discussed in terms of the four main questions of this review.

Sixty-eight papers were included: 41 clinical practice and 27 research studies. Art therapy was most frequently provided on an individual basis, by qualified art therapists in community settings. Papers highlighted a broad range of adaptive practices, techniques and theoretical models used by practitioners when working with this population. Study outcomes varied, were predominantly behavioural and deficit focused. Data on the direct experiences of this population were limited but show promising areas for future research.

This review identified that art therapy practice has evolved in response to diverse client needs and specific socio-cultural contexts across 40 years. Although there are no clearly defined models of individual or group art therapy for this population, practitioners employ their creative and therapeutic skills flexibly to meet this population’s complex health and social needs. We recommend that future studies: employ robust and inclusive methodologies, measure resource-oriented outcomes and use established standards of reporting, to expand the evidence-base and to more accurately reflect the experiences of this population.

这项具有叙述性综合的系统综述旨在确定艺术治疗实践的形式、进行的研究类型、报告的结果以及文献中为也经历过精神困扰的学习障碍者描述的经历。

其中包括描述艺术治疗实践或治疗性艺术干预措施的英文论文，这些论文旨在解决有学习障碍的成年人的精神困扰。数据库检索是使用医疗保健数据库高级检索 (HDAS)、PubMed 和美国心理学协会 PsycInfo 进行的。还对灰色文献进行了手工检索。对每篇纳入的论文都进行了相关性和质量评估评级。根据本次审查的四个主要问题对结果进行了讨论。

包括 68 篇论文：41 篇临床实践和 27 篇研究。艺术治疗最常由合格的艺术治疗师在社区环境中针对个人提供。论文强调了从业者在与这一人群合作时使用的广泛的适应性实践、技术和理论模型。研究结果各不相同，主要关注行为和缺陷。有关该人群直接经历的数据有限，但显示出未来研究的有希望的领域。

这篇综述指出，40 年来，艺术治疗实践不断发展，以适应不同的客户需求和特定的社会文化背景。尽管对于这一人群没有明确定义的个人或团体艺术治疗模式，但从业者可以灵活地运用他们的创造性和治疗技能来满足这一人群复杂的健康和社会需求。我们建议未来的研究：采用稳健和包容性的方法，衡量以资源为导向的结果并使用既定的报告标准，扩大证据基础并更准确地反映这一人群的经历。