Abstracts from the 2024 Research and Thesis Poster Session of the 59th Annual American Dance Therapy Association Conference, Moving Through to Regenerate: Dance/Movement Therapy, October 24–27, 2024

Abstracts from the 2020 Research and Thesis Poster Session of the 55th Annual American Dance Therapy Association Conference, Online

Abstracts from the 2016 Research and Thesis Poster Session of the 51st Annual American Dance Therapy Association Conference

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During the 51st annual American Dance Therapy Association conference, this author participated in a cross-disciplinary panel “Polyvagal-informed Therapy for Trauma, Attachment and Autism” with Dr. C. Sue Carter, Executive Director of the Kinsey Institute and Rudy Professor of Biology at Indiana University and Dr. Stephen Porges, Distinguished University Scientist at the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University Bloomington and Research Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The following article reprints the author’s remarks on this panel, focusing on the intersections between autism spectrum disorder treatment and the activation of the social engagement system through attuned mobilization in dance/movement therapy.

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Since its inception in 1966, the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) has worked to develop standards of professional training. The initiation of a registry procedure was the organization’s first attempt to identify and set forth standards for clinical training. This task was often difficult due to three important factors: (1) the lack of in-depth training opportunities during the early years of the association; (2) the desire and motivation of the ADTA to establish a professional identity; and (3) the lack of a clearly defined body of knowledge. The emergence of graduate programs in dance therapy has positively affected the quality of training, lent credibility to the profession, and facilitated the discovery and exploration of a body of knowledge. This paper traces the historical development of dance therapy training in the ADTA.

Depression is a debilitating condition affecting more than 350 million people worldwide (WHO 2012) with a limited number of evidence-based treatments. Drug treatments may be inappropriate due to side effects and cost, and not everyone can use talking therapies.There is a need for evidence-based treatments that can be applied across cultures and with people who find it difficult to verbally articulate thoughts and feelings. Dance movement therapy (DMT) is used with people from a range of cultural and intellectual backgrounds, but effectiveness remains unclear. To examine the effects of DMT for depression with or without standard care, compared to no treatment or standard care alone, psychological therapies, drug treatment, or other physical interventions. Also, to compare the effectiveness of different DMT approaches. The Cochrane Depression, Anxiety and Neurosis Review Group's Specialised Register (CCDANCTR-Studies and CCDANCTR-References) and CINAHL were searched (to 2 Oct 2014) together with the World Health Organization's International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (WHO ICTRP) and ClinicalTrials.gov. The review authors also searched the Allied and Complementary Medicine Database (AMED), the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) and Dissertation Abstracts (to August 2013), handsearched bibliographies, contacted professional associations, educational programmes and dance therapy experts worldwide. Inclusion criteria were: randomised controlled trials (RCTs) studying outcomes for people of any age with depression as defined by the trialist, with at least one group being DMT. DMT was defined as: participatory dance movement with clear psychotherapeutic intent, facilitated by an individual with a level of training that could be reasonably expected within the country in which the trial was conducted. For example, in the USA this would either be a trainee, or qualified and credentialed by the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA). In the UK, the therapist would either be in training with, or accredited by, the Association for Dance Movement Psychotherapy (ADMP, UK). Similar professional bodies exist in Europe, but in some countries (e.g. China) where the profession is in development, a lower level of qualification would mirror the situation some decades previously in the USA or UK. Hence, the review authors accepted a relevant professional qualification (e.g. nursing or psychodynamic therapies) plus a clear description of the treatment that would indicate its adherence to published guidelines including Levy 1992, ADMP UK 2015, Meekums 2002, and Karkou 2006. Study methodological quality was evaluated and data were extracted independently by the first two review authors using a data extraction form, the third author acting as an arbitrator. Three studies totalling 147 participants (107 adults and 40 adolescents) met the inclusion criteria. Seventy-four participants took part in DMT treatment, while 73 comprised the control groups. Two studies included male and female adults with depression. One of these studies included outpatient participants; the other study was conducted with inpatients at an urban hospital. The third study reported findings with female adolescents in a middle-school setting. All included studies collected continuous data using two different depression measures: the clinician-completed Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D); and the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) (self-rating scale).Statistical heterogeneity was identified between the three studies. There was no reliable effect of DMT on depression (SMD -0.67 95% CI -1.40 to 0.05; very low quality evidence). A planned subgroup analysis indicated a positive effect in adults, across two studies, 107 participants, but this failed to meet clinical significance (SMD -7.33 95% CI -9.92 to -4.73).One adult study reported drop-out rates, found to be non-significant with an odds ratio of 1.82 [95% CI 0.35 to 9.45]; low quality evidence. One study measured social functioning, demonstrating a large positive effect (MD -6.80 95 % CI -11.44 to -2.16; very low quality evidence), but this result was imprecise. One study showed no effect in either direction for quality of life (0.30 95% CI -0.60 to 1.20; low quality evidence) or self esteem (1.70 95% CI -2.36 to 5.76; low quality evidence). The low-quality evidence from three small trials with 147 participants does not allow any firm conclusions to be drawn regarding the effectiveness of DMT for depression. Larger trials of high methodological quality are needed to assess DMT for depression, with economic analyses and acceptability measures and for all age groups.

Experiential classes that use dance/movement as the primary means of learning are universal in dance/movement therapy (DMT) graduate education programs in the United States. Yet, there have been no studies to determine what competencies develop in movement based experiential classes in DMT education. This is a report of a qualitative study that used thematic analysis to identify competencies that DMT students develop from movement based experiential learning (MBEL). Competencies identified in this study were compared to the education standards set by the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA). As expected, MBEL was most instrumental in developing competencies for clinical practice and professional development. MBEL was less effective in developing competencies for multiculturalism and theoretical knowledge. The study identified a set of new competencies related to emotional intelligence that is not in the ADTA’s standards and is unique to student experiences in MBEL. This study focused on the student perspective, which can help address some of the weaknesses of current education practices. The article ends with the benefits and limitations of a competence based education for DMT.

The author, as co-editor of the American Journal of Dance Therapy, introduces six essays by a small group of experts, invited to share reflections on the social, political, economic, scientific, and cultural context for the development of the profession of dance/movement therapy (DMT) over the first half century of the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA). Through allusions to pivotal events in the United States circa 1966, this introductory editorial characterizes the U.S. zeitgeist around the year of the ADTA’s founding. Specific references are made to the signing of the Voting Rights Act, the establishment of Medicaid and Medicare, the founding of the National Organization for Women, as well as the violent targeting of civil rights marchers in Selma, Alabama, and the spontaneous launching of the modern LGBT rights movement with the Stonewall Rebellion in New York’s Greenwich Village. Commentary on the six essays to follow the editorial includes discussion of DMT as a female-dominated profession, which has apparently suffered the economic consequences of gender bias. Strategies for countering devaluation of the profession and building respect for it—including improving dance/movement therapists’ cultural competence, upgrading both quantitative and qualitative research, and fostering alliances between the ADTA and sister institutions—are likewise advanced.

The cultural turn of the 1980s suggests re-visiting the definition of Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) for the purposes of understanding the power the language has in shaping the profession. Such re-examination of the original American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) definition and its historical development reveals an ambivalence that upholds a dualistic view of the profession; a troublesome idea for a practice based in body-mind integration. This paper is not a critique of the ADTA or the field, but is meant to act as a springboard for discourse on how the very description of the work can contribute to level of recognition of the profession.KeywordsDefinitionCultural turnDualismMeaningLanguage

The 50th anniversary of the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) is a celebration of our achievements over the last half-century and a time for analysis and reflection regarding all facets of the development of the profession of dance/movement therapy. This is an excellent occasion to look back at the history of the credentials process, and the evolution to Board certification. This article will trace the major historical events in the development of the ADTA credentials process from it’s inception to the current day, and explore both the internal and external factors that moved this process forward. It will also examine our credentials with a focus on some of the issues raised within the current health care climate.

The sense of touch holds a unique role in creating, communicating, and forming social bonds. The American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) has formally embraced the potential therapeutic benefits of touch such as safety, comfort, pain relief, grounding, bodily integration, awareness, regulation, and social connection while setting clear guidelines to mitigate its risks. Touch is also woven into the fabric of Western medicine through procedures or tasks and less often as a means of comfort. This project consists of a literature review and a journal article manuscript exploring the communicative role of touch within dance/movement therapy (DMT) near the end of life. A review of literature includes the neuroscience of interpersonal touch, the role of touch in human development across the lifespan, touch as nonverbal communication, attitudes toward touch in health care, touch in the context of COVID-19, and the ethics and use of touch in dance/movement therapy. The journal article manuscript is a narrative case description highlighting the communicative role of touch in dance/movement therapy near the end of life with a 66-year-old Caucasian, female with Glioblastoma Multiform, a terminal brain cancer, her 34-year-old daughter, and spouse. This project aims to demonstrate the importance of touch in nonverbal communication, the need for communication and connection near the end of life, and the ability of dance/movement therapists to encourage and facilitate these social and emotional connections through touch.

Book reviewed in this article: Looking for Me. 1970. A film by Norris Brock and Virginia Bartlett, produced by the American Dance Therapy Association Dance Therapy: The Power of Movement. 1982. A film by Norris Brock produced by the American Dance Therapy Association

American Dance Therapy Association: The 48th Annual Conference: Creating Community Connections, Sept 2013, New York

The 11th dialogue group between descendants of Holocaust perpetrators, victims, and liberators was held in conjunction with the International Family Therapy Association (IFTA) Conference in Reykjavík, Iceland, in October 2006. Some of the history and evolution of this unusual group of mental health professionals, which has had an existence of 12 years, has been chronicled in prior articles (Kaslow, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002). Therefore, in this article the most salient facts about the group's origins, raison d'être, and annual meetings, as well as changing group composition, is summarized. Some reflections on the course of the life of the group, its impact on its members, and the wider ripple effect are provided. Written comments made by some of the participants are included to illuminate their reflections on their experiences. The meeting in Reykjavik is described and finally the reasons for phasing out the group are given. A significant 12-year project is drawn to a close, hopefully with members having derived both new perceptions of the “other” and some deep and lasting healing through personal reexperiencing of the Holocaust having been incorporated and integrated differently into their lives. It is hoped that readers may deduce some principles and glean other information that will be valuable to them in their practices and their personal lives when dealing with survivors of the Holocaust and other more recent traumatic genocides: their students, supervisees, patients, colleagues, and perhaps relatives.