Emotion Dysregulation and Aggressive Behavior in Violent OffendersATFVONCT07913230
Art Therapy For Violent Offenders
A study testing Expressive Arts Therapy in people with Emotion Dysregulation and Aggressive Behavior in Violent Offenders, run by Shenzhen University at 1 site in China.
Trial summary
This randomized controlled trial evaluated whether an 8-week expressive arts therapy (EAT) program can improve emotion regulation and reduce aggression in male violent offenders incarcerated in a Chinese prison. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 20 years and older, men onlyHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Emotion Dysregulation and Aggressive Behavior in Violent Offenders
- What is being tested?
- Expressive Arts Therapy
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 65 participants
- Where
- 1 siteChina
- Study dates
- 1 Oct 2024to 14 Feb 2025
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 20 years and older
- Men only
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- male inmates incarcerated in a male prison for violent crimes including intentional homicide, intentional injury, affray, and robbery, aged 20-58 years, with a remaining sentence exceeding 6 months, who screened positive for high alexithymia and difficulties in emotion regulation tendencies (elevated TAS-20 and DERS-16 scores), and who voluntarily agreed to participate and provided written informed consent.
Who cannot join
- individuals with a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder or current mental illness diagnoses, illiterate individuals and those unwilling to participate, and, in the IAT data analysis, participants with missing data in any of the three experimental sessions, more than 10% of trials with reaction times >10000 ms or <300 ms, or mean error rates exceeding 20%.
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
China1 site
School of Psychology, No. C-L3-12, Building Zhiyi, Caohai Campus, Shenzhen University, Nanshan District, Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province
Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518060
About this study
Official title: The Effects of Expressive Arts Therapy on Emotion Regulation and Aggression in Violent Offenders: A Randomized Controlled Trial
This randomized controlled trial evaluated whether an 8-week expressive arts therapy (EAT) program can improve emotion regulation and reduce aggression in male violent offenders incarcerated in a Chinese prison. A total of 65 participants were randomly assigned to an EAT intervention group (n=31) or a routine-care control group (n=34). The program used art, clay, and music to help participants express emotions and reinterpret negative experiences.
- Being tested
- Expressive Arts Therapy
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Expressive Arts TherapyBehavioural
Also called EAT
The intervention consisted of one two-hour session per week, with each week focusing on a specific theme: Body and Emotions, Stress Volcano, Seeing Emotions, Unspoken Words, Self-Awareness, Life Line, Flow of Life, and Review \& Prospect.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| expressive arts therapy group | Experimental | Participants in the Expressive Arts Therapy (EAT) group received an 8-week group intervention delivered by qualified expressive arts therapists. The 31 participants were divided into three small groups of approximately 10 members each. The intervention consisted of one two-hour session per week, with each week focusing on a specific theme: Body and Emotions, Stress Volcano, Seeing Emotions, Unspoken Words, Self-Awareness, Life Line, Flow of Life, and Review \& Prospect. The therapy integrated multimodal arts-including painting, clay work, and music-to facilitate emotional expression, bypass verbal defenses, and enhance cognitive reappraisal by helping participants externalize and reinterpret emotional experiences. Receives: Behavioral: Expressive Arts Therapy |
| control group | No intervention | Participants in the control group (n = 34) received routine prison management only and did not participate in the Expressive Arts Therapy (EAT) intervention. However, the prison's routine psychological services remained available to all participants in this group throughout the study period. They completed the same baseline, mid-treatment (4-week), and post-treatment (8-week) assessments as the intervention group. |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Cognitive Reappraisal Capacity (Picture-Rating Task)
Cognitive reappraisal capacity was assessed using a computerized picture-rating task programmed in E-Prime 3.0, utilizing 40 negative images selected from the Chinese Affective Picture System. The task consisted of two parts: "rating after viewing" and "rating after cognitive reappraisal." In the "rating after viewing" part, participants rated their emotional response to 20 randomly assigned images. In the "rating after cognitive reappraisal" part, participants were instructed to provide positive interpretations of the depicted persons or scenarios for the remaining 20 images before rating their emotional response. Ratings were made on a 9-point scale ranging from 1 (minimal negative emotion) to 9 (strongest negative emotion). For subsequent administrations (mid- and post-treatment), half of the images were replaced with new ones, while both groups viewed the same image sets at each time point.
Measured: Baseline (before the intervention), mid-treatment (after 4 weeks of intervention), and post-treatment (upon completion of the 8-week intervention).
Secondary outcomes (2)
Implicit Violent Attitudes (Implicit Association Test)
Implicit violent attitudes were measured using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) programmed in E-Prime 3.0, comprising two types of implicit word associations: "self-violence" and "violence-positive." The "self-violence" IAT assessed automatic associations between self-concept and violence by measuring reaction times when pairing self-related words with violence-related attributes, while the "violence-positive" IAT evaluated implicit attitudes toward violence by measuring association speeds between violence-related words and valenced attributes. The test included four critical blocks: block 4 (violence-self + peace-others pairing), block 7 (violence-others + peace-self pairing), block 11 (positive-defend + negative-attack pairing), and block 14 (positive-attack + negative-defend pairing). The "self-violence" IAT effect was calculated by subtracting the mean RT of Block 4 from Block 7, and the "violence-positive" IAT effect by subtracting Block 11's mean RT from Block 14's.
Measured: Baseline (0-week), mid-treatment (4-week), and post-treatment (8-week).
Mood States (Visual Analogue Mood Scale, VAMS)
Mood states were assessed using the Visual Analogue Mood Scale (VAMS), programmed using NET 8.0, which consists of 18 items across four dimensions: somatic state, psychosomatic state, emotional state, and extraversion. Each item presents a pair of antonymous adjectives, and participants rated their current state by clicking on a 100-point continuum between the two descriptors (e.g., 1 = "extremely drowsy" to 100 = "extremely alert"). The scale includes 13 forward-scored and 5 reverse-scored items, with higher composite scores indicating greater positivity in each respective dimension.
Measured: Baseline (0-week), mid-treatment (4-week), and post-treatment (8-week).
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted3 Nov 2026
- Study start1 Oct 2024
- Primary completion14 Feb 2025
- Study completion14 Feb 2025
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Emotion Dysregulation and Aggressive Behavior in Violent OffendersStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Supportive care
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind
- Who is masked
- Outcomes assessor
- Enrolment
- 65 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Shenzhen University
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Jialin Fan, Shenzhen University
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07913230
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- ShenzhenU
- Other IDs
- SZU_PSY_2024_127
- Acronym
- ATFVO
- Status last verified
- Oct 2026
- First submitted
- 24 Oct 2026
- Last updated
- 3 Nov 2026
- Results posted
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No: The study was conducted with a vulnerable population-incarcerated violent offenders-within a correctional facility. Participants provided informed consent with the assurance that their individual data would remain confidential and would not be shared outside the research team. Furthermore, the prison administration imposed strict data governance requirements, including that all data remain under institutional control and be used solely for the purposes of this approved study. Therefore, access to the data is restricted to the principal investigators and authorized research personnel, and de-identified data may only be made available to qualified researchers upon reasonable request to the corresponding author, subject to approval from the Ethics Committee of Shenzhen University and the prison administration, and in compliance with applicable privacy and institutional regulations.
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 3 Nov 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- The Effects of Expressive Arts Therapy on Emotion Regulation and Aggression in Violent Offenders: A Randomized Controlled Trial
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07913230
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- ATFVO / ShenzhenU
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 65 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- Shenzhen UniversityUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 1 Oct 2024 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 14 Feb 2025 (actual)
- Study completion
- 14 Feb 2025 (actual)
- First posted
- 3 Nov 2026 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
This randomized controlled trial evaluated whether an 8-week expressive arts therapy (EAT) program can improve emotion regulation and reduce aggression in male violent offenders incarcerated in a Chinese prison. A total of 65 participants were randomly assigned to an EAT intervention group (n=31) or a routine-care control group (n=34). The program used art, clay, and music to help participants express emotions and reinterpret negative experiences.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Supportive care
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind (outcomes assessor)
- Number of arms
- 2
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| expressive arts therapy group | Experimental | Behavioral: Expressive Arts TherapyParticipants in the Expressive Arts Therapy (EAT) group received an 8-week group intervention delivered by qualified expressive arts therapists. The 31 participants were divided into three small groups of approximately 10 members each. The intervention consisted of one two-hour session per week, with each week focusing on a specific theme: Body and Emotions, Stress Volcano, Seeing Emotions, Unspoken Words, Self-Awareness, Life Line, Flow of Life, and Review \& Prospect. The therapy integrated multimodal arts-including painting, clay work, and music-to facilitate emotional expression, bypass verbal defenses, and enhance cognitive reappraisal by helping participants externalize and reinterpret emotional experiences. |
| control group | No intervention | –Participants in the control group (n = 34) received routine prison management only and did not participate in the Expressive Arts Therapy (EAT) intervention. However, the prison's routine psychological services remained available to all participants in this group throughout the study period. They completed the same baseline, mid-treatment (4-week), and post-treatment (8-week) assessments as the intervention group. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 20 years and older
- Sex
- Male only
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (1 listed)
- male inmates incarcerated in a male prison for violent crimes including intentional homicide, intentional injury, affray, and robbery, aged 20-58 years, with a remaining sentence exceeding 6 months, who screened positive for high alexithymia and difficulties in emotion regulation tendencies (elevated TAS-20 and DERS-16 scores), and who voluntarily agreed to participate and provided written informed consent.
Key exclusion criteria (1 listed)
- individuals with a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder or current mental illness diagnoses, illiterate individuals and those unwilling to participate, and, in the IAT data analysis, participants with missing data in any of the three experimental sessions, more than 10% of trials with reaction times >10000 ms or <300 ms, or mean error rates exceeding 20%.
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Expressive Arts TherapyAlso: EATThe intervention consisted of one two-hour session per week, with each week focusing on a specific theme: Body and Emotions, Stress Volcano, Seeing Emotions, Unspoken Words, Self-Awareness, Life Line, Flow of Life, and Review \& Prospect. | Behavioural | expressive arts therapy group |
Primary outcome
Cognitive Reappraisal Capacity (Picture-Rating Task)
Time frame: Baseline (before the intervention), mid-treatment (after 4 weeks of intervention), and post-treatment (upon completion of the 8-week intervention).
Cognitive reappraisal capacity was assessed using a computerized picture-rating task programmed in E-Prime 3.0, utilizing 40 negative images selected from the Chinese Affective Picture System. The task consisted of two parts: "rating after viewing" and "rating after cognitive reappraisal." In the "rating after viewing" part, participants rated their emotional response to 20 randomly assigned images. In the "rating after cognitive reappraisal" part, participants were instructed to provide positive interpretations of the depicted persons or scenarios for the remaining 20 images before rating their emotional response. Ratings were made on a 9-point scale ranging from 1 (minimal negative emotion) to 9 (strongest negative emotion). For subsequent administrations (mid- and post-treatment), half of the images were replaced with new ones, while both groups viewed the same image sets at each time point.
2 secondary outcomes
Implicit Violent Attitudes (Implicit Association Test)
Time frame: Baseline (0-week), mid-treatment (4-week), and post-treatment (8-week).
Mood States (Visual Analogue Mood Scale, VAMS)
Time frame: Baseline (0-week), mid-treatment (4-week), and post-treatment (8-week).
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 3 Nov 2026.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No. The study was conducted with a vulnerable population-incarcerated violent offenders-within a correctional facility. Participants provided informed consent with the assurance that their individual data would remain confidential and would not be shared outside the research team. Furthermore, the prison administration imposed strict data governance requirements, including that all data remain under institutional control and be used solely for the purposes of this approved study. Therefore, access to the data is restricted to the principal investigators and authorized research personnel, and de-identified data may only be made available to qualified researchers upon reasonable request to the corresponding author, subject to approval from the Ethics Committee of Shenzhen University and the prison administration, and in compliance with applicable privacy and institutional regulations.
Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
The record lists no contact. Use the official record to reach the sponsor.
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Expressive Arts Therapy in people with Emotion Dysregulation and Aggressive Behavior in Violent Offenders, run by Shenzhen University at 1 site in China.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 1 inclusion and 1 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 3 Nov 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in China. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Cognitive Reappraisal Capacity (Picture-Rating Task) (time frame: Baseline (before the intervention), mid-treatment (after 4 weeks of intervention), and post-treatment (upon completion of the 8-week intervention).). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 3 Nov 2026.