gms | German Medical Science

7. Jahrestagung der Wissenschaftlichen Fachgesellschaft für Künstlerische Therapien e. V.

Wissenschaftliche Fachgesellschaft für Künstlerische Therapien e. V. (WFKT)

14.11. - 15.11.2024, Alfter/Bonn

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Dance Movement Therapy alleviates symptoms in traumatized refugee women – a controlled trial

Meeting Abstract

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  • Sabine C. Koch - Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences, Alfter, Germany; SRH University Heidelberg, Germany
  • Zahra Nazemi - SRH University Heidelberg, Germany
  • Nga Man Cheng - SRH University Heidelberg, Germany
  • Kseniia Vasilyeva - SRH University Heidelberg, Germany
  • Carmen Katz - SRH University Heidelberg, Germany
  • Kayleigh Cook - SRH University Heidelberg, Germany
  • Christina Arnaud - SRH University Heidelberg, Germany
  • Sonja Steltmann - University of Heidelberg, Germany
  • Crystal Tomaszewski - University of Bourgogne, Dijon, France

Wissenschaftliche Fachgesellschaft für Künstlerische Therapien e.V.. 7. Jahrestagung der Wissenschaftlichen Fachgesellschaft für Künstlerische Therapien (WFKT) 2024. Alfter/Bonn, 14.-15.11.2024. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2025. Doc24wfkt10

doi: 10.3205/24wfkt10, urn:nbn:de:0183-24wfkt109

Veröffentlicht: 21. März 2025

© 2025 Koch et al.
Dieser Artikel ist ein Open-Access-Artikel und steht unter den Lizenzbedingungen der Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (Namensnennung). Lizenz-Angaben siehe http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Gliederung

Text

Global crises force many women to flee their country. They often arrive traumatized with severe symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress in the host country. In 2023, mental health care for refugees in Germany was only reaching 3.1% of the persons in need. Can dance movement therapy (DMT) contribute to reduce symptoms of trauma, stress, depression and anxiety in refugee women. In a controlled within-group design, with an 8-week waiting phase and an 8-week trial phase, N=24 refugee women from Ukraine, Afghanistan, Turkey, Nigeria and Cameroon were interviewed about trauma, stress, depression and anxiety symptoms before and after an 8-week DMT intervention using standardized questionnaires. The results show that all women entered the study with a clinically relevant, severe symptom burden (baseline t1), which did not change at pretest (t2, after the waiting phase), and was significantly reduced at posttest (t3; after the intervention), trauma symptoms fell below the clinical cutoff value at t3. DMT is a promising, low-threshold and highly cost-effective treatment method for refugee women. Women came self-motivated to the study that took place in a central dance studio in a mid-size South German city. Follow-up data and data from between-group studies are needed to increase generalizability, knowledge about sustainability of the effect, and internal validity.