Accumulating Evidence for Dance/Movement Therapy in Cancer Care.

Sharon W. Goodill

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01778

Abstract

This review offers a discussion of the state of dance/movement therapy (DMT), research with people living with cancer. The vast majority of extant studies published in the English language are with women with breast cancer. An examination of challenges facing DMT researchers in this area is provided, and recommendations for research foci, and priorities are outlined. These include qualitative syntheses, integration of implementation evidence with qualitative synthesis, and formal process evaluation studies.

Highlights

This review aims to offer an update about research on dance/movement therapy (DMT) as a psychosocial support intervention in the context of cancer care, for both adult, and pediatric populations
The search was neither exhaustive nor systematic, yet attempted completeness within these parameters: (1) the publication was identified as research including RCTs, CCTs, and one group pre-posttest designs, using quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods designs; (2) Full text was available in the English language; (3) Descriptions of interventions were sufficient for this author to determine if the intervention was consistent with the professional practice of DMT worldwide
Of the 79 reports discovered in the search, 34 were excluded because they were not research reports; 20 were excluded because the intervention was not named as either DMT, dance therapy, or dance movement psychotherapy, or the intervention was judged as inconsistent with professional DMT practice; 4 were not published in English, Dance/Movement Therapy in Cancer Care and 9 were not on cancer care

Summary

Introduction

This review aims to offer an update about research on dance/movement therapy (DMT) as a psychosocial support intervention in the context of cancer care, for both adult, and pediatric populations. The search was neither exhaustive nor systematic, yet attempted completeness within these parameters: (1) the publication was identified as research including RCTs, CCTs, and one group pre-posttest designs, using quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods designs; (2) Full text was available in the English language; (3) Descriptions of interventions were sufficient for this author to determine if the intervention was consistent with the professional practice of DMT worldwide. This included evidence of professional training, and education of the interventionist. As a contributor to the 2015 Cochrane Collaboration systematic review of DMT for people with cancer (Bradt et al, 2015), I have drawn from that publication, and acknowledge here the excellent work by co-authors Joke Bradt, Ph.D., MT-BC, and Minjung Shim, Ph.D., BC-DMT

Objectives

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion