Third-year medical student Zayan Musa at UC Riverside has a deep passion for the intersection of medicine and the arts. A painter in her free time, she believes art can be implemented as a creative approach to medical care, especially for vulnerable patients with lifelong illnesses or chronic conditions.

No surprise then that Musa is now conducting a clinical trial based on art therapy with currently 12 elderly and hospice patients at The Grove Care and Wellness, a center for short-term rehabilitation and long-term care in downtown Riverside, California. The goal of the trial is to determine what difference art therapy makes in elderly patients’ lives.

“In this trial, we introduce an art activity that we suggest participants engage in daily for at least 20 minutes and we track their progress over time,” Musa said. “The benefits are noticeable in several ways. Mentally, they gain focus by dedicating themselves to one task for an extended period. Physically, they develop fine motor skills through repetitive actions, like coloring in adult coloring books sometimes multiple times a day. During follow-ups, we ask participants about their progress and how they feel about the projects, helping us understand the reasons behind their improvements.”

Amalia Reynoso, 78, has been living at The Grove Care and Wellness for nine years.

“I've been coloring all my life,” she said. “I remember when I was a little girl, my mother would say, ‘Come on, take my pen.’ As I color, it takes me to a different place — a different mindset — and I become a different person. It's like everything else fades away, and I can focus solely on my coloring. I love it, and no one can take that time away from me. I've been doing this my whole life, and painting feels like family. It helps me forget the problems I've had along the way.”

Musa has made every effort to promote art therapy for patients like Renoso.

“Amalia and the others in the group felt particularly relevant for this clinical trial because they are in a vulnerable stage of life,” Musa said. “A holistic, multimodal approach like art therapy could be beneficial, especially since they are at a point where these patients are moving away from pharmacotherapy.” 

All patients participating in the clinical trial fill out questionnaires before, during, and after doing art therapy. Musa found the data so far trends toward moderate/slight increases in motor skills and substantial improvements in cognitive and emotional health. One question in the questionnaire sought to measure patients’ ability to express themselves and how their interaction with others changed.

“This is an indicator of emotional health because healthy emotions involve creating social circles of support and being able to express oneself emotionally,” Musa said. “Encouraged by our data, we hope to provide concrete evidence that art therapy can be used in medical care for vulnerable populations and should be considered as part of the comprehensive medical therapy in patients with chronic illnesses or palliative care.”

Kym Scarpitti, 65, joined The Grove Care and Wellness in February 2024. Art therapy has helped reduce her anxiety, she said.

“It keeps me focused instead of getting distracted by other thoughts,” she added. “It has helped me with my arthritis. I enjoyed calligraphy in the past but, as my hands got more affected, I didn’t do it as much. Now I practice about an hour of art each day in my room and especially enjoy painting nature scenes.”

Musa hopes her clinical trial will inspire other medical students and healthcare workers to take on similar projects toward making healthcare a more accessible and engaging experience for all.

“I see painting as a therapeutic tool, and if it’s incorporated into a structured routine in a medical context, it can become an effective form of therapy,” she said. “My own approach has been simple: There’s no set style or medium; we offer paints, pens, as well as coloring books. Most participants tend to choose the coloring books because they find them easy to use consistently. This project has been so fulfilling that I am interested in trying this therapy next with pediatric populations.”

Musa’s clinical trial at The Grove Care and Wellness is supported by a Dean’s Research Innovation Grant from the UCR School of Medicine.