Date of Award
12-16-2017
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Art in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling (MA)
Department
Creative Arts Therapies
First Advisor
Imus, Susan
Second Advisor
Downey, Laura
Third Advisor
Bell, Aisha
Keywords
dance/movement therapy, Cultural competence, cultural difference, group therapy, dance/movement therapy
Abstract
Utilizing transcendental phenomenology, this study sought to better understand dance/movement therapists’ experiences of the culture bump phenomenon in the group therapy setting. Culture bumps are defined as moments in which two or more people enter a situation with different culturally-based expectations about customs, behavior, beliefs, communication styles, and other norms (Archer & Nickson, 2012). Data were collected using individual inperson semi-structured interviews with five Chicagoland dance/movement therapists who self identified as having experienced the phenomenon of the culture bump while in the group therapy setting. Data analysis was completed using Moustakas’ (1994) adaptation of the Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method and resulted in five textural-structural themes that describe the experience of the phenomenon of the culture bump: a) elusory and complex in nature, b) at its essence, about a meeting of differing expectations, c) having a shifting/changing quality to it, d) inextricably tied to the participant’s own cultural context, and e) therapeutically important material. The participants’ experiences indicated culture bumps are a common occurrence in the group dance/movement therapy setting, and both their presence and the processing of them are breeding grounds for necessary conversations about cultural difference. 54 pages - submitted as an article to the American Journal of Dance Therapy in February of 2018 in a format that meets the criteria for that publication, and so is shorter than a standard thesis.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Breitmeyer, Natalie R., "Cultural Differences in Group Therapy: A Phenomenological Study of the Lived Embodied Experience of the Cultural Bump" (2017). Creative Arts Therapies Theses. 83.
https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/theses_dmt/83