Mental skills training in the freelance dance industry: developing a mental skills training programme for freelance dance artists

Freelance dance artists face a range of challenges that might negatively impact their mental well-being. To address these issues, research indicates that a systematic and strategic approach, like mental skills training (MST) could be beneficial for freelance dance artists. However, to date, there exist no recognised manualised MST programmes that might improve freelance dance artists’ mental well-being. to develop a MST programme tailored to their needs, more knowledge is required on what mental techniques, mental skills and mental qualities freelance artists in the dance industry regard as beneficial to navigate their versatile careers. Therefore, this protocol outlines a qualitative interview study which aims to investigate: a) what mental techniques, skills and qualities freelance dance artists perceive to be beneficial in negotiating the challenges they encounter; b) gain insight into mechanisms underpinning the process of MST and c) determine crucial characteristics (e.g., duration, teaching techniques) essential to a meaningful MST programme for freelance dance artists. Embedded in a person-based approach (PBA) to intervention development and underpinned by a pragmatic stance, the study will use a snowball sampling strategy to recruit 8 freelance dance artists and 8 psychologically informed practitioners for semi-structured interviews. The researchers will use reflexive thematic analysis to analyse the resulting data. Findings will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed publication in a scientific journal