What is Drama Therapy Empirical Research?    

Drama therapy empirical research focuses on the derivation of knowledge about drama therapy and related processes/techniques from direct or indirect observation or experience. Drama therapy empirical research includes arts-based, qualitative, and quantitative methodologies.

Compilation of Drama Therapy Empirical Research References

Drama Therapy Empirical References: Article Nomination Review Form 

Members of the NADTA Empirical References Updating committee or any member of the global drama therapy community may use this form to nominate research articles that have been published in a peer-reviewed journal to be added to the NADTA empirical references database. For more information on inclusion/exclusion criteria for this project, please reference Armstrong et al. (2019) along with the most current inclusion criteria described on the NADTA Research page: https://www.nadta.org/research

You may also use this form to recommend adjacent research articles that are 1) not published in English 2) drama therapy with other arts modalities such as art therapy, poetry therapy, music therapy, dance/movement therapy etc. 3) using drama or theatre processes but the study does not reference or contextualize the work within the practice of drama therapy/dramatherapy 4) studies that focus on psychodrama, sociodrama, theatre of the oppressed, playback theatre, or other applied theatre modalities commonly used by drama therapists but are also used outside the profession of drama therapy. (These studies are being collected in a separate NADTA research database for future projects.)

Below are references to drama therapy empirical research, organized by theme, and collected by the North American Drama Therapy Association (NADTA) Research Committee.        

The research references in this list have been viewed by a member of the NADTA research committee. The committee confirmed that the research referenced is empirical and focuses on drama therapy or drama therapy processes/techniques.     

This list can be a starting point for learning about drama therapy and drama therapy research. Researchers may choose to use this list to identify areas of research that call for further exploration, to get ideas for their own research projects, and to connect their own work to previous research. 

Limitations of the Compilation of Drama Therapy Empirical Research References    

This compilation of references is not exhaustive, and the committee has been limited by the availability of and access to original sources.        

How to Get Involved

The research committee’s hope is that this list will be a growing document to which NADTA members can contribute.