Research Symposium

BIO

I am a current freshman at Florida State University from Orlando, Florida. I am hoping to one day join the Navy as a Physician and become an Oncologist. I am interested primarily in Biology, Psychology, and Geology research. I am currently involved in the honors program and several Pre-Med clubs.

The Slow Regard of Silent Things: Building Mental & Emotional Resilience in Dancers​

Abstract

This study evaluated an educational intervention targeted at building mental and emotional resilience in dancers and documents the prevalence of mental health stress in a university dance environment. Five BFA dance majors completed the intervention: six modules in an application developed by a clinician who works with dancers and one-hour weekly meetings. This study observed the influence of mental resilience training on behaviors relevant to dance performance. Training was evaluated using a multiple-baseline-across-dancers experimental design with secondary measures of the RAND Mental Health Inventory, a Mental Health Knowledge Base Questionnaire, and Social Validity ratings. Results show targeted behaviors improved for every dancer who completed training with mean improvement of 50%. Scores on the RAND and Knowledge Base questionnaire improved by averages of six and thirteen points respectively. Results support previous research, corroborating that dancers are facing mental stress. Findings also suggest that completing six application-based, individually coached, weekly mental resilience training sessions improved the quality of pre-professional dancers' interactions with their training environments and self-reported mental health levels. This study was run as a systematic replication of the study done in the 2021-2022 school year with similar results expected.

Keywords: Dance, Mental Health, Emotional Resilience