Dance Movement Therapy As a Psychosocial Intervention in Social Work: A Scoping Review

Background and Purpose: Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) is regarded as an evidence-based intervention for clients facing psychological and physical health problems (Millman et al., 2020). DMT has been studied as an intervention for depression (Karkou et al., 2019; Meekums et al, 2015), schizophrenia (Ren & Xia, 2013), dementia (Guzmán‐García et al., 2013; Lyons et al., 2018), autism spectrum disorder (Takahashi et al., 2019), childhood sexual abuse (Ho, 2015), trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (Levine & Land, 2016), and the psychological and physiological effects of cancer (Bradt et al., 2015). However, literature describing DMT and its effects in the context of social work psychosocial interventions is limited.

Methods: A scoping review was conducted per the JBI methodology for scoping reviews (Peters et al., 2020) and recommendations from Khalil and associates (2016) using the five stages: identify the research question, identify relevant research using a three-step search to balance feasibility with extensiveness, select studies as a team, chart data, and collate results to inform implications for practice, policy and/or research. Inclusion criteria consisted of peer-reviewed journal articles published until and including 2023 that reported the use of DMT in social work practice as a psychosocial intervention. We searched the Academic Search Complete, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Sociological Abstracts, and PubMed databases. We followed the recommended JBI approach to critical appraisal, data extraction, and data synthesis. Results are reported in a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses extension for scoping review (PRISMA-ScR) flow diagram (Tricco et al., 2018).

Results: Initial searches yielded 112 articles and 74 de-duplicated results. Exactly 35 articles did not meet the inclusion criteria and were excluded. The authors examined 39 full-text articles to identify whether they met inclusion criteria. The results of the full-text article screening yielded four articles that met inclusion criteria. These articles represented varied populations, social problems, and social work practice settings in which DMT was used. Publication dates ranged from 1993 to 2019 and three studies (Margolin, 2019; Tortora, 2010; Travis et al., 2019) used exclusively qualitative methods (case study, process observations, qualitative content analysis, and narrative methods). One study (Loughlin, 1993) used a mixed methods approach including quantitative (body satisfaction scale) and qualitative (open-ended questionnaires, drawings, and interviews). The authors’ disciplines, disciplinary affiliation of the publication journals, and theoretical frameworks varied greatly.

Conclusions and Implications: While DMT as a psychosocial intervention in social work has potential to help diverse clients, results reveal limited published research, which may discourage practitioners. A lack of standards to implement DMT in social work settings also exists. Collaboration between researchers, social work practitioners, and DMT professionals is needed to conduct rigorous studies on the effectiveness of DMT in social work practice contexts.