Description
ObjectivesThis study explored how psychologically informed practitioners (PIPs) have delivered psychoeducational workshops to dancers.
Design
A qualitative interview design underpinned by pragmatism was chosen to gain in-depth insight into the lived experiences of PIPs.
Methods
8 participants (1 male, 7 female, Mage= 42.1, SD= 12.2) were recruited using snowball sampling. Semi-structured interviews were conducted by the first author using Zoom (Mean = 69.6 mins) and analysed through reflexive thematic analysis.
Results
In the generated themes, PIPs emphasized the importance of building empowering climates to foster optimal engagement with mental skills training (MST) and demonstrated that supporting dancers in becoming intentional self-regulated learners can enable them to take ownership of and safeguard their functioning and mental well-being.
Conclusions
Findings show that PIPs’ services aim to enable dancers to safely explore different mental techniques, and develop mental skills crucial to take ownership of and safeguard their functioning and mental well-being. However, considering that there are still substantial barriers to embed psychological services in dancers’ lives, careers and education, more still has to be done to value the significance and potential of their services in the wider dance ecology.
| Period | 9 May 2026 |
|---|---|
| Held at | University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom |