Creative Arts Therapies Theses

Date of Award

5-15-2011

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Art in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling (MA)

Department

Creative Arts Therapies

First Advisor

Downey, Laura

Second Advisor

Allen, Larua

Keywords

cancer, patients

Abstract

This quasi-experimental, mixed methods study examined the effects of dance/movement therapy on three types of outcomes (quality of life, anxiety and depression, and coping methods) for adult cancer inpatients who received treatment for a hematological cancer diagnosis. It was hypothesized that if hematological cancer patients participated in three or more dance/movement therapy sessions, then they would find a greater quality of life, decreased feelings of anxiety and depression, and an improvement in coping methods. Those patients who participated in three or more dance/movement therapy sessions while in the hospital formed the intervention group, and those who did not formed the control group. Each study participant completed pre and post tests for quantitative data analysis. The tools included the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy- General (Cella, Tulsky, Gray, Sarafian, Linn, Bonomi, Silberman, Yellen, Winnicour & Brannon, 1993), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (Zigmond & Snaith, 1983), and the Brief COPE Inventory (Carver, 1997). In addition to quantitative data, the principal investigator kept a researcher journal to track individual responses to dance/movement therapy interventions. The Chesler (1987) method of sequential analysis was used to analyze this qualitative data. Quantitative data analysis found that the control group saw greater improvements in all domains of quality of life (except physical well-being) and less anxiety and depression than the intervention group. Qualitative data analysis revealed themes regarding relaxation, anxiety, passivity, physical quality of life, and motivation for staying healthy were most frequent in the researcher journal. Quantitative data minimally supported the hypothesis, however qualitative data suggests that dance/movement therapy helped patients to relax, decrease their anxiety, motivate them to remain physically healthy, and to feel good.

Download

Share

COinS