Art therapists’ fear of COVID-19, subjective well-being, and mindfulness

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit face-to-face service fields, including art therapy. The present study examined changes in Korean art therapists’ subjective well-being between the pre- and during pandemic periods. We also investigated whether the fear of COVID-19 affected art therapists’ subjective well-being and verified the mediating effect of mindfulness on the relationship between COVID-19 fear and subjective well-being. We used the existing data of 203 Korean art therapists’ subjective well-being, and recruited 132 new participants. The participants were Korean art therapists and art therapy students who completed a subjective well-being questionnaire, a Fear of COVID-19 scale, and a mindfulness questionnaire. The results indicated lower levels of subjective well-being during the COVID-19 period than pre-pandemic. Furthermore, we confirmed that the fear of COVID-19 lowered subjective well-being, with mindfulness mediating the relationship. This study discusses core components of mindfulness, decentering, and embodiment as attributes shared with art therapy. Our results highlight the importance of dispositional mindfulness to foster subjective well-being during the pandemic.