Effects of Art Therapies on Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Research Hypothesis
Our research hypothesis posits that various art therapy interventions have a positive impact on clinical and functional outcomes in individuals with schizophrenia compared to treatment-as-usual (TAU). We further hypothesize that the effectiveness of these therapies may vary depending on the quality of the studies and the specific type of therapy employed.

Data Description
- Code: The provided R code allows for the analysis of the dataset. It is designed to run network meta-analyses and other statistical tests necessary to evaluate the relative effectiveness of various art therapy interventions. The code includes data preprocessing steps, model fitting procedures, and output generation to facilitate comparison of the therapies.

- Data: The data file contains information collected from 324 randomized controlled trials (RCTs), involving 27,948 participants. This data encompasses information on the impact of various art therapies on key outcomes, including symptoms, cognition, quality of life, and social functioning.

Notable Findings
Our findings indicate that several art therapy interventions, such as music therapy (MT) and integrated art therapy (IAT), show more favorable outcomes compared to treatment-as-usual (TAU) when focusing on high-quality studies. Specifically, these therapies demonstrated significant potential in improving clinical and functional outcomes for individuals with schizophrenia. However, the confidence ratings for these findings were moderate to low, indicating the need for further high-quality research. Painting and calligraphy therapy (PCT) also showed promise, although its effects were less consistent across the studies.