71. The promoting effects of art and design courses on students' emotional management and mental health

Abstract Background Currently, the student population is facing increasing academic pressure and social challenges, with emotional management and mental health issues becoming increasingly prominent. Traditional mental health education mainly relies on lectures or conversations, with a single form and limited student participation and emotional integration. As an educational form that integrates visual expression and creative thinking, art and design courses achieve emotional guidance and self-awareness through nonverbal expression and creative processes. However, their systematic role in emotional management and mental health promotion has not been fully validated. Therefore, by examining the implementation mechanisms of art and design courses, this study evaluates their role in enhancing students' emotional regulation and mental health, offering new insights for psychological interventions in educational settings. Methods A study selected 100 students aged 13-18 with emotional distress (score ≥ 30 on the Emotional Regulation Difficulty Scale) students were randomly selected from two secondary schools in a certain city and separated into an experimental group (EG, n = 50) and a control group (CG, n = 50). The CG received routine mental health courses, while the EG participated in a 12-week art and design course, including themed content such as painting expression, handicrafts, and visual diaries. The Difficulty in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) and General Health Questionnaire (12 item version, GHQ-12) were used for evaluation in three stages: before the start of the course (T0), after the end of the course (T1), and one-month follow-up after the end of the course (T2). Semi structured interviews were carried out with 15 students in the EG. Quantitative data and interview data were analyzed utilizing SPSS 26.0 for repeated measures ANOVA and Nvivo 12.0 for thematic analysis. Results At T0, there was p>.05 in DERS and GHQ-12 scores between the two groups. At T1, the DERS score and GHQ-12 score of the EG were significantly lower than those of the CG (p<.01). At T2, the score of the EG was still lower than that of the CG, and the effective rate of emotional management improvement in the EG reached 76.0%, higher than the CG's 28.0% (p<.001). According to interview data, 82% of students stated that they are able to better identify and express complex emotions through the visual creative process. 74% of students reported feeling a sense of achievement and self-worth during the completion of their work. 68% of students believe that the creative activities in the course help them detach from stressful situations and stabilize their emotions. Discussion Art and design courses can effectively enhance students' emotional management abilities and improve their mental health status, and their intervention effects have a certain degree of sustainability. The art and design curriculum has the characteristics of strong integration, high participation, and easy promotion, making it suitable as an important supplement to school mental health education. Future work will explore the differentiated effects of various age groups and art forms on students' psychological development. Funding No. 25JGYB0157.