Publication Date

2014

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Department

School for Social Work

Keywords

Dance therapy, Mind and body therapies, Post-traumatic stress disorder-Treatment, Mind-body therapies for trauma treatment, Mixed methods, Empirical

Abstract

This thesis is a mixed-method, empirical study exploring the possible efficacy of TangoFlow!®—an original dance-conditioning technique based in Argentine tango, which I developed and trademarked in 2010—in reducing symptoms of trauma. Research employed both quantitative and qualitative measures to determine whether or not an eight-week intervention had any effect on type and severity of symptoms, as reported by participants. The sample (N=13) consisted of volunteer participants who self-identified as having a history of trauma. No specific information about their trauma history was solicited; rather, trauma symptoms were assessed through a pre-interview using a published testing instrument, the Trauma Symptom Inventory-2™, as the measure. Participants then received an intervention consisting of one TangoFlow!® class per week for eight weeks, after which they were again assessed for trauma symptoms using the TSI-2. Quantitative results were calculated by applying paired t-tests to the pre/post scores, both for the overall scores and for three sub-scales (i.e., symptoms of anger, depression and somatic complaints). Each of these tests showed dramatic reduction in symptom levels, such that TangoFlow!® was statistically significant, despite the small sample size: In the measure of overall TSI-2 scores, pre- and post-, TangoFlow!® had significance at the .001 level. Qualitative results were obtained by conducting a Focus Group with participants.

Language

English

Comments

iv, 100 pages. Thesis (M.S.W.)-Smith College School for Social Work, 2014. Includes bibliographical references (pages 76-79)

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