This
integrative literature review explores the alignment between Irvin Yalom’s 11
curative factors of groups and the therapeutic properties of museums,
particularly art museums. Existing literature on the therapeutic qualities of
museum spaces and studies examining the 11 curative factors of groups in
practice were collected and organized into a literature matrix to better
understand patterns found by other researchers. Through this review, it was
found that five of the curative factors currently exist in many museum spaces.
Three of the 11 factors might exist in museum spaces but require further
research to better understand how they appear, and three of the curative
factors do not currently exist at all in the museum space, according to
existing literature and observational data.