Poetry as a way to express emotions in mental health

Abstract

Poetic depiction of problems and complex thoughts is an innovative approach that facilitates introspective thinking and the building of self-identity. This study aimed at providing nursing students with in-depth knowledge about mental health through free poetic production. A qualitative, descriptive research approach, of sociopoetic inspiration involving 96 undergraduate nursing students, was conducted. All ethical recommendations were considered. Four categories emerged: “Hybrid emotions, feelings and sensations”; “Associations”; “Doubts and questions”; and “Reflections”. Students’ poetic writings were analysed and the results highlighted the students’ perception of the dynamics between brain and heart symbolizing reason and emotion. Poetic writing enhances creativity and fosters introspection, acting as an important facilitator of the complexity of mental health-related issues and contributing to improve therapeutic communication skills. Importantly, the search and development of new pedagogical approaches can help to deal with the emotional stressors linked to the novelty of mental health education.

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Journal of Poetry Therapy
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ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tjpt20
Poetry as a way to express emotions in mental
health
José Carlos Marques Carvalho, Paula Isabella Marujo Nunes da Fonseca &
Cláudia Mara de Melo Tavares
To cite this article: José Carlos Marques Carvalho, Paula Isabella Marujo Nunes da Fonseca
& Cláudia Mara de Melo Tavares (2021): Poetry as a way to express emotions in mental health,
Journal of Poetry Therapy, DOI: 10.1080/08893675.2021.1921474
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/08893675.2021.1921474
Published online: 07 May 2021.
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Poetry as a way to express emotions in mental health
José Carlos Marques Carvalho
a
, Paula Isabella Marujo Nunes da Fonseca
b
and Cláudia
Mara de Melo Tavares
c
a
Escola Superior de Enfermagem do Porto, Porto, Portugal;
b
Escola de Enfermagem Anna Nery –UFRJ, Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil;
c
Escola de Enfermagem Aurora de Afonso Costa –UFF, Niterói, Brazil
ABSTRACT
Poetic depiction of problems and complex thoughts is an
innovative approach that facilitates introspective thinking and the
building of self-identity. This study aimed at providing nursing
students with in-depth knowledge about mental health through
free poetic production. A qualitative, descriptive research
approach, of sociopoetic inspiration involving 96 undergraduate
nursing students, was conducted. All ethical recommendations
were considered. Four categories emerged: “Hybrid emotions,
feelings and sensations”;“Associations”;“Doubts and questions”;
and “Reflections”. Students’poetic writings were analysed and
the results highlighted the students’perception of the dynamics
between brain and heart symbolizing reason and emotion. Poetic
writing enhances creativity and fosters introspection, acting as an
important facilitator of the complexity of mental health-related
issues and contributing to improve therapeutic communication
skills. Importantly, the search and development of new
pedagogical approaches can help to deal with the emotional
stressors linked to the novelty of mental health education.
ARTICLE HISTORY
Received 18 September 2020
Accepted 15 November 2020
KEYWORDS
Mental health; creativity;
expressed emotions; poetry;
nursing
Introduction
Creative depiction of problems or complex thoughts through poetry is a powerful edu-
cational tool (Morin, 2017). According to Morin, the seven key principles essential for edu-
cation of the future include the educator’s inspiration and the fundamental knowledge for
good educational practice. The author refers to the most efficient metaphors of the living,
like interconnection or involving “things”such as reason and emotion, the real and the
imaginary, science and art. Morin advocates three paths, including the hologram prin-
ciple –where every part experiences the totality of being together. To think in a
complex way means to feel part of a unique and great community (Morin, 2014,2017).
Complex knowledge is not limited to science, but it can be found in a variety of arts-
based approaches, including poetry. Moreover, Morin also advocates that arts and scien-
tific thinking are not completely dissociable.
Within this context, using poetry to address complex thinking in mental health nursing
education raises interesting questions. The need to go beyond the Cartesian method is
© 2021 National Association for Poetry Therapy
CONTACT José Carlos Marques Carvalho zecarlos@esenf.pt Escola Superior de Enfermagem do Porto, Rua Dr.
António Bernardino de Almeida, Porto 4200-072, Portugal
JOURNAL OF POETRY THERAPY
https://doi.org/10.1080/08893675.2021.1921474

rooted in the importance of enhancing students’sensitivity to self-awareness and facili-
tate human and emotional growth.
Currently, the diversity of pedagogical strategies is widely accepted. These strategies,
either artistic or not, can help the subjects’development of self-identity and self-knowl-
edge. This present study approaches arts-based educational strategies that can improve
human sensitivity as a means to promote self-knowledge (Short & Grant, 2016).
Moreover, this type of strategies used for therapeutic purposes poses an enormous
challenge to nursing education, due to the demand for technical-professional knowledge,
experience, expertise and extended self-knowledge (Botelho & Pereira, 2014; Short &
Grant, 2016).
According to Rogers, the task of a teacher is to facilitate students’learning, enabling
them to choose the best pedagogical strategies that meet personal interests and goals
and to provide students with different educational resources, since this approach is
likely to make students more accountable for their choices and motivate learning,
opening new educational horizons (Rogers, 2017).
Poetic writing is an arts-based approach that has been historically adopted to describe
many achievements, challenges and conquers helping to increase awareness and knowl-
edge (Van Lith, 2016). In line with this view, this artistic expression can also be used con-
tributing to more humanistic nursing interventions (Carvalho & Cordeiro, 2018).
Similarly, poetic writing enables language and communication to be especially con-
veyed using the creative combination of words to deliver a message and provoke the
readers’aesthetic pleasure (Chan, 2012; Jack, 2015; Jakobson, 2012). When poetry is
used as a teaching resource (Jack & Tetley, 2016), it allows students to express their feel-
ings, emotions and opinions, exchange information and broaden their view of the world
and the human condition.
The nursing discipline, and particularly the teaching of mental health nursing, is mainly
underpinned by formal contents,so educators should be able to encourage students’under-
standingof the relationship between reason and emotion, essential to the nursing profession.
Thus, the purpose of this study is to address the issue of mental health from a different
perspective, considering its subjectivity and to highlight the importance of affections, as
one of the key elements for health promotion. It aims to promote in-depth knowledge
about mental health and awareness of affections in nursing students, using free poetic
production, and the expected outcomes are to improve teaching and facilitate new
ways of learning, the development of specific skills and abilities. The purpose is to encou-
rage and prepare students to think and see differently, increase empathy and help them
explore the difficulties in mental health promotion.
Materials and methods
This research followed a qualitative approach, of descriptive type and sociopoetic inspi-
ration. This knowledge approach understands the individual as a political and social
being, with equal rights and considers the persons’physical and spiritual dimensions,
vital in the development of knowledge and the production and assimilation of data (Gau-
thier, 2005,2012).
The nursing discipline deals with peoples’sensitive domain, such as affections, subjec-
tivities and sensations, and this sociopoetic dimension values the dominated and
2J. C. CARVALHO ET AL.

resistance cultures and their related concepts. Within this conceptual scope, all knowl-
edge is equally important but the spiritual, political and human dimensions for the con-
struction of knowledge are strongly emphasized (Fonseca et al. 2017; Tavares et al., 2018).
Contrary to classical methods, sociopoetic research plays a unique role since it seeks to
prevent the disconnection between body, emotion, sensuality, intuition and sexuality; the
lack of dialogue with other cultures, especially those dominated and/or resistance; the
disregard for those not viewed as experts; the distinction between scientific learning
and artistic development; and finally, the dissociation between knowledge and spirituality
(Tavares et al., 2018).
In sociopoetics, the notion of the unconscious, whether inspired by Freud or Lévi-
Strauss, is fundamental, and this trend has emerged to break with mainstream
approaches and the confinement of respondents to conscious thinking, impeding the
true expression of emotions (Freud, 2005;Zafiropoulos, 2018). The epistemological and
methodological concern with the unconscious as an important source of knowledge
raises awareness of the pivotal role of participants in the scientific adventure (Gauthier,
2012).
The method of Sociopoetics is developed through its main operator, the research
group, in which researchers act as facilitators in workshops, aesthetic experiments and
invite participants to become co-researchers of a consensual research theme, unlike main-
stream research. This method enables the active engagement of the research group in
decision-making throughout the entire process, including the definition of the theme,
production, analysis and validation of data. In this context, the subjects share joint respon-
sibility on the production of knowledge, enabling the researcher to debate themes with
cultures of resistance, rather than only focussing on academic references (Tavares et al.,
2018).
Hence, the present study adopted sociopoetics as an approach to knowledge integrat-
ing science, intuition, popular and artistic expression, legitimating the production of data
related to the expression of feelings and the representation of affections in mental health.
The purpose of this study was to use creativity and artistic expression through the cre-
ation of an environment fostering free expression. The students participating in this study
were free to take on a position regarding the proposed theme, express feelings and give
impressions about mental illness.
This approach is characterized by active methodology, in which the student plays a key
role in the learning process and is in line with William Glasser, who advocates that people
usually learn with more efficient methods (Glasser, 1998). Moreover, active methodologies
applied to education may produce more positive outcomes in education and nursing.
Also, the development of specific contents should favour the adoption of the best peda-
gogical approaches (Freitas et al., 2016; Short & Grant, 2016). The expected outcomes are
to facilitate self-confidence and enhanced autonomy, crucial to problem-solving (Her-
manns & Haas, 2016). Institutions are also likely to gain from these results, through
better student satisfaction levels, enhanced classroom environment, improved students’
perception of the institution and increased recognition (Freitas et al., 2016). Teaching
should consider comprehensive approaches, and creativity applied to teaching is a way
to assess the quality of effective opportunities provided to the student.
This research was conducted with 96 undergraduate nursing students at a higher edu-
cation institution in the north of Portugal, throughout four semesters, between 2016 and
JOURNAL OF POETRY THERAPY 3

2018. From the total of 96 produced works, authors randomly selected the first 40 writings
for analysis. The participants were identified with letter A and numbered 1 to 40.
The research question was defined using the mnemonic combination PCC (P: Popu-
lation;C:Concept;C:Context), in which P: nursing students; C: affections in health/
mental illness; and C: classroom/university.
Students were instructed on the dynamics of the activity. They were invited to write a
literary text in the form of a poem to explore their perception of health/mental illness.
Each student was given a week to depict mental illness, as a type of homework,
without any restrictions and they could freely choose the metric, size, and language to
deliver their message. The representations could either be anonymous or use a hetero-
nym. Eligibility criteria included students who freely wished to participate, and who
were also enrolled in the curricular unit psychiatric nursing. Those not willing to partici-
pate were excluded from the study.
All ethical issues were considered, and anonymity was guaranteed to all students
willing to participate who were also asked to sign written informed consent.
Students’depictions of mental illness were analysed, through the three-phase tech-
nique proposed by Bardin (2011), more specifically, through the pre-analysis, which
involved documents selection, the definition of a corpus for analysis and definition of indi-
cators that support the final interpretation; the material exploration or encoding, that
involved raw data systematically transformed and grouped into units, allowing an accu-
rate description of the content characteristics; and the treatment of results, inference and
interpretation, in which the information provided by the analysis was highlighted,
through simple quantification (frequency), allowing the encoded material to be presented
through diagrams, figures, models, among others.
Results
A total of 40 texts were analysed and the results showed that participants used authorship
writing of poetry, poems and prose to depict mental illness.
Interestingly, the presented works often reflected the students’perception of the
dynamics between brain and heart, symbolizing reason and emotion. This portrays our
human nature and the perceived symbiosis between the rational and the emotional
(Casassus, 2009), a perception that is somewhat confirmed by the statement of participant
A13 “To be in a relationship, Colours one’s life. Without this, We feel lost.”
The above transcription connotes the meaning, balance and importance given to affec-
tions, much in line with Freud’s concept when comparing the emotion that triggers artis-
tic production with the child’s early steps into the language world and culture.
In the present study, slightly over 10% of students were inspired by poets, like Fer-
nando Pessoa in “Cancioneiro”and Álvaro de Campos in “Apontamento”(Pessoa, 2017).
To Willemart (1993) writing is embedded with the writer’s desire to create. The author
states that artists in general, who are particularly sensitive and influenced by tradition and
surrounding environments, are keener to gather information and recall past and present
emotions. The author argues that this can be an overwhelming experience and that the
artist frequently experiences inner disturbance. According to Willemart, the artist pro-
duces the initial works driven by the need to channel emotions and express feelings
and thoughts. The author compares the artist to someone seeking for emotional
4J. C. CARVALHO ET AL.

support, but instead of reaching for professional help, he/she finds its answers through
artistic creation, driven by the desire to express the deepest emotions.
Interestingly, this study confirmed studentświllingness to accept the challenge and
write about their emotions about health and mental illness and this approach has pro-
vided ways for them to express their unique emotions.
The gathered data were submitted for content analysis and four categories have
emerged: “Hybrid emotions, feelings and sensations”;“Associations”;“Doubts and ques-
tions”; and “Reflections”.
Hybrid emotions, feelings and sensations
Although emotions are easily perceived, an empirical definition is not so apparent, since
the concept of emotion is intimately related to the individual thus hindering an accurate
definition of this phenomenon. Emotions are a natural human response but they lack a
conceptual design for their understanding. Bisquerra (2000) argues that “the intensity
of emotions is based on the subjective evaluations we perform about how the infor-
mation received will affect our well-being”and that “Previous knowledge, beliefs, per-
sonal goals, and perception of the environment, are factors intervening in the
subjective evaluations …” (p. 63).
Moreover, emotions function as involuntary human responses and they occur because
the emotional is relatively independent of the cognitive brain (Casassus, 2009). Interest-
ingly, people often experience difficulties in identifying their real emotions, and often
its interpretation is associated with the sensation or response to a triggering event.
In the present study, sadness, fear and love scored the highest number of citations in
texts, six times each. Concerning the characteristics of emotions, suffering, anguish and
hatred were the most frequently cited, ranging between five and four times each. The fol-
lowing writings portray the perception of negative emotions associated with mental illness.
[…] One day I will find love! One day I will experience winning and loosing! Tomorrow will not
be the end of the world! Only one sad pride willing to die. It will be different tomorrow. A self
filled with anger, anguish and frustration will arise, From the splendorous Summer Sun. […].
(A12)
Also, courage, calm, longing, indifference, frustration, sorrow, terror, coldness, envy
and pride, depicted some students’perceptions. Other words were used to describe feel-
ings such as emptiness, idleness, crying, lack of affection, loneliness, making mistakes, lim-
iting, confining, helplessness, and restlessness, and expressions like love, protection,
listening, believe in oneself, believe in one’s capacity to change, tranquillity, peace,
respect, patience, empathy and affection, were recurrent.
In sum, the analysis of these works enabled identifying the perceived negative
emotions/feelings, such as sadness, anguish, despair, discouragement, loneliness,
suffering, anger, hatred, fear and frustration. Conversely, the importance of affection, tran-
quillity, patience, confidence, pride and love, was emphasized.
These dichotomic characteristics involving the good/bad, the positive/negative, the
right/wrong, were observed in the poetic witting of A19:
I think mental health is like being involved: In so many opportunities with exceeded limits.
Embracing countless opportunities. In dreams imagined …In the unbiased dichotomies:
JOURNAL OF POETRY THERAPY 5

Right/wrong, normal/abnormal, good/bad. In the freedom of choice …In wanting to be free.
In experimenting …In the courage to change …(A19)
Notably, negative emotions are frequently perceived by graduate students attending
classes on mental health, therefore the prejudice and stigma related to the mentally ill
need to be collectively examined. Clinical practice is a key strategy in mental health
nursing education. Gil (2010) argues that assessing beliefs and attitudes towards patients
and mental illnesses through the clinical teaching of mental health nursing contributes to
improving nursing students’perception of the mentally ill. Nevertheless, stereotypes like
dangerousness, incurability and individual accountability are often exacerbated (Gil,
2010). In this way, demystifying this concept involves in-depth access to individual knowl-
edge about the phenomenon, because placing oneself at the core of mental health-
related issues enhances empathy and allows a deeper understanding of suffering,
anguish, isolation and the need for affection of the mentally ill patients.
Associations
Associations are mechanisms adopted by people to better deal with unexpected events.
The incorporation of individual and collective familiar experiences are important to
understand other unfamiliar contexts. Also, using creative thinking is crucial to personal
development and problem-solving (Chan, 2012).
The students involved in the present study presented works that frequently associated
mental health with suicidal persons and objects. The human association was portrayed
through the wish to die and the feeling of worthlessness. As for objects, the human
being (involving physical and mental traits) was compared to a machine/computer (hard-
ware and software) and the constant interaction between these components, and another
representation compared life to an empty track CD. “Through affection, we show
emotions. And if we do not show them, Then we’re just empty track CDs […]”(A8).
Mental illness was also found to be associated with conditions such as imprisonment
and autism, with particular effects on social inclusion, emphasizing the strong negative
perception that the mentally ill is someone that should not belong to society. Fortunately,
despite all the prejudice and misinformation related to mental illness, societies have
claimed more inclusive approaches and the Caracas Declaration (1992) is a strong
example of this commitment.
Remarkably, some of the respondents viewed nurses as healers of souls or as a “kind of
life support of the head”(A25) and emphasized the key pivotal role of nurses in the deliv-
ery of care to the mentally ill. “[Nurses in psychiatric wards] How important are they. Able
to understand, Showing empathy. And patience. In this ever so noble profession. Kind of
life support of the head.”(A7).
Doubts and questions
Students in this study also engaged in personal reflection and these introspective
moments were depicted in the following text passages “[…] but, is it actually like this?”
(A11); “[…] can you imagine yourself a mentally ill?”(A33); “[…] but who is really the dis-
turbed one? (A35)”;“[…] is it all real?”(A31); and writings:
6J. C. CARVALHO ET AL.

[…] There are so many examples of people who have really made a difference through their
work, people who, in my opinion, had an active and enriched “mental life”, people like Fer-
nando Pessoa or Van Gogh, people who are still world references. And yet, were they actually
mentally sane? Or just mad? […] (A1)
Most of the reflections were related to empathy, an essay to understand the mentally
ill, “who knows, one day we might be in their shoes? (A23)”;“what if it was you? (A17)”.
This in-depth introspection also provoked students to ask questions such as “I don’t
even know myself any more, help me …understand me”(A15). These questioning and
doubts acted as strong motivators to self-discovery and human and professional growth.
Reflections
Reflective writing provides an excellent opportunity to express the deepest thoughts and
emotions. From the students involved in this study, 65% were able to show their learning
and creative sensitivity through their works, as summarized in Table 1.
This challenge provided the students with the opportunity to perceive hope for the
mentally ill and a different future for people suffering from mental illness. Attributes
such as affection, love and the ability to listen were considered fundamental to the pro-
motion of mental health, and these students found that feelings encompass the
emotional and the rational.
In this sense, students understand that to be mentally healthy also depends on the
support, nourishment, and the ability to listen regardless of circumstances and that
“one who sees the other through a holistic perspective, will be able to listen and
comfort the other’s heart”(A12). Having this in mind, students have demonstrated
that poetic writing was a facilitator in communicating with the other, and understood
that despite the feeling of worthiness, there is still hope. The belief in oneself, in the
power to change, to grow and to overcome difficulties are crucial mechanisms to fight
prejudice and strengthen people and societies. The importance of nurses’mental
health was also highlighted “it’s also important to pay attention to the mental health
of nursing professionals”(A25); and this professional was described as a mediator to
the restlessness, tranquillity, comfort, and dignity, by ensuring understanding, empathy
and patience.
Table 1. Main synthesis of the students’productions.
Main conclusions of the texts Cited by
Hope for a better tomorrow and still be able to dream A4, A7, A9 and
A11
To be mentally healthy, one needs to be supported, nourished, heard regardless of circumstances,
comforted with words, receive affection during difficult situations and be loved.
A1, A18, A40
The heart does not belong to anyone, so we need to be aware of the importance of feeling with the
heart.
A5, A17
Nurses are facilitators in the promotion of mental health bringing comfort to one’s heart with
understanding, empathy and patience. They use a holistic approach to the patient and show
concern in providing comfort.
A2, A25
To forgive oneself. A8, A10
Courage to change. Overcoming. A14, A15
Hopelessness A12, A19
Learning. Living is about giving and receiving. A21, A29
Source: Study data, 2019.
JOURNAL OF POETRY THERAPY 7

In this context, Wanda Horta argues that people must be treated as human beings and
that nursing interventions must also address feelings and emotions. The author considers
that the basic instruments in nursing are the knowledge and skills fundamental to the
profession and that the flow of ideas and flexibility of thought, the originality and the
adaptation or re-adaptation of solutions are key elements (Horta, 1979).
Contributions and main impressions of the artistic experience applied to nurses’
training
The purpose of this study was to provide an empathetic approach to mental health.
Through an informal discussion with the participants, it was possible to understand that
this exercise provided students’in-depth knowledge of the mentally ill. In line with these
results, we stress that learning creatively allows the development of interpersonal skills
and assists in the development of students’self-awareness, essential to nursing practice.
The sensitive, creative and artistic method inspired by sociopoetics proved to be an
important tool for promoting self-knowledge since the perception of personal strengths
and limitations enables knowing and accepting others. Therefore, exercising poetic
writing has helped students to build their emotional capacity and enabled them to
explore their creative skills. Rollo May argued that a creative human being reaches
higher personal satisfaction and inner growth by producing new valid alternatives or
improving existing ones, contributing to a better quality of life (May, 2009).
Moreover, the analysis of the poetic works revealed students’stimuli with this task,
revealed by some produced statements –“difficult”,“I liked doing it”,“I liked it very
much”,“I must say this was perhaps the most difficult task until now …the end of a
cycle”and one of the “best learnings”. Students reacted to this “challenge”or “mental
exercise”, and found that “it got easier after I started”,“because we’re not used to thinking
out of the box”. Despite the difficulty found in metrics and aligning the poetic writings,
the students reported that “it was not easy to rhyme, but I think you understand”, and
this challenge has also provided them with the opportunity to reflect on “what does
this symbolizes?”,“what does this mean?”, in line with the students’perception of
mental health (Carvalho & Tavares, 2017).
The presented texts were written in Portuguese, English, and Spanish languages,
accompanied by images, handwritten or computer made works, delivered in the form
of prose, with different length, in diary style or as “edification of poetic text that explores
the intensification of myself”. Interestingly, although students were not truly familiarized
with poetry and this form of writing, except in high school, they showed special concern
in the graphic presentation and the final output of their works. This is in line with (Clancy
& Jack, 2016), who claim that poetry is something to be felt and therefore, sensitivity must
be encouraged at a very early age.
The purpose of this study was also to provide helpful mechanisms for introspection,
emotional and cognitive reasoning, and promoting students’mental health. In this
context, social interactions are one of the essential factors in the human being’s mental
education and the teacher may act as a facilitator in the learning process. The imperative
of pedagogical interventions is not solely confined to educating and/or changing stu-
dents’role in a classroom environment or life, but to empower teachers with new edu-
cational skills (Warne & McAndrew, 2010).
8J. C. CARVALHO ET AL.

Besides, the use of poetry to explore more sensitive issues in mental health (Latoo,
2016), has had an impact on nursing students’learning outcomes. The influence of Carl
Rogers humanistic conception through the positive qualities of authenticity, appreciation,
trust and empathy of the teacher and learning principles, proved to be cardinal for chan-
ging students’behaviours and attitudes (Rogers, 2017).
Discussion
This study contributed to enhancing stimuli, curiosity and improve students’knowledge
of mental health and self-knowledge, since the use of artistic production enabled a better
understanding of the phenomenon, personal reflection on mental health and under-
standing of the importance of affections. Additionally, this has also provided an excellent
opportunity to “inspire the writing of other poems and poetry”, revealed through the sub-
stantial outputs of students that allowed to enhance students’creativity, introspection,
and increase awareness of mental health. Thus, the students’promptness to accept this
challenge and interesting results portray the best expected outcomes (Van Lith, 2016).
This corroborates the need to incorporate new teaching approaches to sensitive sub-
jects because despite the ambiguity of mental health issues, exploring new method-
ologies will certainly improve students’outcomes. This means that providing students
with time for reflection and intellectual delight will very likely enhance the ability to
analyse and treat more serious/complex issues and highly contribute to improving thera-
peutic communication skills.
From the teaching perspective, the search and development of different strategies and
new teaching methods can add substantial value by helping to deal with the emotional
stressors triggered by the novelty of mental health-related subjects and clinical teaching.
Importantly, the development of critical reasoning skills alongside a more sensitive and
creative approach, supported by a hybrid pedagogical methodology, is certainly the
greatest challenge for nursing practice.
This study was sought to contribute to the sharing of experiences in nursing education
and boost new research projects in mental health. Nursing education and students, in par-
ticular, can highly benefit from innovative approaches, contributing to a better quality of
care delivery and more effective community outreach.
Acknowledgements
All ethical considerations were observed. Ethical was granted by the institution ESEP and students
signed an informed consent.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Funding
This article was supported by National Funds through FCT –Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia,
I.P., within CINTESIS, R&D Unit [grant number UIDB/4255/2020].
JOURNAL OF POETRY THERAPY 9

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