The Contribution of Dance Movement Therapy in Promoting Nursing Students' Interpersonal Skills during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Descriptive Phenomenological Study.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, most universities closed or reduced clinical placements (CPs), limiting nursing students' opportunities to practice communication and interpersonal skills before graduating. When applied in nursing curriculums, Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) enhances students' understanding of the theoretical concepts of communication and interpersonal skills, representing a valuable educational tool when CPs are reduced, as during the COVID-19 pandemic. This descriptive phenomenological study aims to describe the contribution of DMT in promoting third-year nursing students' relational skills during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thirty-four nursing students who attended a DMT workshop completed a reflective journal. Data were analysed using content analysis. Three themes emerged: struggling to care for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, lived experience of DMT, and professional identity development. The first theme illustrates the connection participants made between their experiences during the DMT workshop and the caregiving challenges imposed by the pandemic; the second theme describes how the workshop fostered emotional and physical connections among its participants; the third theme focuses on the awareness participants acquired regarding their professional role during the workshop. When CPs opportunities are limited, DMT workshops can represent an educational tool to promote interpersonal and communication skills among nursing students, facilitating their transition into the profession.

Nursing students' perspectives of dance movement therapy to learn relational skills: A qualitative description study.

BACKGROUND: Nursing students are expected to develop communication and relational skills during their undergraduate education, and the literature on art-based methods for teaching these skills is growing. Art-based education seems to be a promising method for teaching relational skills, especially embodied and performing arts. Dance Movement Therapy has been used previously to learn relational skills, but never in undergraduate nursing students. AIM: To describe how first-year undergraduate nursing students experienced the learning of communication and relational skills through a Dance Movement Therapy workshop. SETTINGS & PARTICIPANTS: First-year undergraduate nursing students who completed a two-session Dance Movement Therapy workshop. DESIGN & METHODS: This study utilised a Qualitative Description design. Data were gathered from students' reflective journals (n = 226 journals, 113 students) and analysed with a thematic analysis approach. RESULTS: Three themes were identified: learning happens through the experience of competences, learning happens through corporeality, and learning takes time. The first theme describes how students experienced theoretical concepts through workshop games. "Learning happens through corporeality" focuses on the role of the body during Dance Movement Therapy games as a medium for learning. "Learning takes time" describes students' evolution during the workshop, both within and between sessions, and the graduality of comprehension and learning. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study suggest that Dance Movement Therapy can be an applicable methodology for nursing students to learn communication and relational skills. Most of the relational skills and non-verbal communication components were explored and strengthened during the workshop. Students were also able to create links between theoretical concepts and nursing practice. Nurse educators may want to consider using Dance Movement Therapy to teach communication and relational skills.