Dance for Wellness: Indigenous adolescents' Perspectives on Mental Health, Wellness, and Dance.

Abstract

Purpose: Indigenous adolescents living on reservations in Canada experience mental health disparities, and there is an urgent need to address this as mental illness and suicide increase. Therefore, a dance program was initiated to attempt to improve mental health and wellness for Indigenous adolescents The reaearch purpose was to gain insight into theexperiences of mental health and wellness in Indigenous adolescents and identify if and how a four-week dance program affected their mental health and wellness.

Design: A trauma-informed, qualitative, single-case study design was used.

Method: Semi-structured interviews and symbol-based data were used to interview eight adolescents aged 11 - 16 years living in a Denesuliné community from February to June 2022.

Findings: Three multidimensional themes emerged: It Helped My Mental Health and Everything (Dance Helps Me Escape, Dance Makes Me Feel Good, and Dance Is Just Really Fun); A Little Bubble Around Me When I Dance (I Can Be More Confident and I Can Be Myself), and We Won't Judge You Here (Creation of Friendship, He Said I Was Really Good, and Improved School Attendance).

Conclusions: The dance program impacted the participants' mental health and wellness by providing positive activities to engage the adolescents.

Clinical evidence: Community health nurses (CHNs) assist in promoting health and wellness in Indigenous adolescents living on reservation and can use these findings to advocate for funding for the development of dance-based mental health and wellness programs.