ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the therapeutic strengths of tablets according to ten years of clinical experience integrating electronicbased work into art therapy sessions. It focuses on tablets as appropriate and viable art tools for children, teenagers, and young adults who are hospitalized with chronic and life-limiting illnesses. Tablets are flat-screened mobile hand-held computing devices between seven and ten inches diagonally across their screen. Art therapists have acknowledged that digital art is a viable twenty-first-century media adaptable to a variety of therapeutic settings. Art therapists have noted that technology can be expensive. Tablets require an initial financial investment, but then become cost-efficient tools for art therapy. In addition to physical safety, tablets can support emotional safety. Hospitalized patients have very little privacy, especially in critical or end-of-life care. Digital media can increase artistic confidence through an intuitive exploration process that takes place as patients learn to navigate and master app software.
