What are the research priorities in dance for dementia? A co-created agenda to support equitable research.

BACKGROUND: There is a gap in the field of dance for dementia regarding how to engage in and improve equitable, moral, and rights-based ways of working with those with lived experience to co-design research priorities. We set out to create a collaborative research agenda for this field. METHODS: A series of collaborative activities were conducted, including an in-person workshop (n = 59 people), online workshop (n = 23 people), digital communications, podcasts, and co-writing, including with people living with dementia (PLWD), health and social care professionals, artists, arts organisational representatives, and academic researchers. RESULTS: Three key themes were constructed: 1) Improving access to dance participation; 2) Prioritising co-produced approaches; and 3) Enabling innovation in measurement and methods. CONCLUSION: This is the first co-produced agenda for the field of dance for dementia. Underpinned by diverse perspectives and lived experience, it outlines themes and associated research questions that can be used in future research.

Expanding the social cure: a mixed-methods approach exploring the role of online group dance as support for young people (aged 16-24) living with anxiety.

There is an increased interest in whether online arts interventions support mental health and social connections. This study explored eight weeks of online group dance as support for young people (aged 16-24) living with anxiety. The applicability of the 'social cure' theoretical framework to the novel context of an online dance class was sought. The study utilised an embedded QUAL+quan design, incorporating participatory focus group discussions (n = 3 groups; n = 11 participants) and one-on-one interviews (n = 2 participants), creative reflections (n = 16 participants) and ethnographic fieldnotes, and a repeated measures design with surveys at three timepoints (week 1, n = 27; week 4, n = 18; week 8, n = 14). Thematic analysis identified two overarching themes demonstrating how the dance classes (i) provided the opportunity to co-construct a meaningful shared identity and (ii) supported holistic wellbeing. The quantitative findings supported this, suggesting lower anxiety, depression, and loneliness and higher wellbeing, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and group closeness. This study expands the social cure to its application to an online dance context for the first time.