Trial Review

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Trial registered on ANZCTR


Registration number
ACTRN12625000153415
Ethics application status
Approved
Date submitted
10/01/2025
Date registered
10/02/2025
Date last updated
23/06/2025
Date data sharing statement initially provided
10/02/2025
Type of registration
Prospectively registered

Titles & IDs
Public title
The impact of dance movement therapy on women with an experience of family and domestic violence: A controlled feasibility study
Scientific title
The impact of dance movement therapy on women with an experience of family and domestic violence: A controlled feasibility study
Secondary ID [1] 313678 0
Nil known
Universal Trial Number (UTN)
Trial acronym
Linked study record

Health condition
Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied:
Psychological well-being 336252 0
Condition category
Condition code
Mental Health 332922 332922 0 0
Other mental health disorders

Intervention/exposure
Study type
Interventional
Description of intervention(s) / exposure
A trauma and violence informed framework which was developed based on the voices of women with FDV, as well as clinician’s voices (Hegarty et al., 2017) will be used to guide service provision in this study. The framework will focus on: relationship building, integrated co-ordinated care, reflective system, and environmental scan.

The DMT intervention sessions will be based on the clinical implications for DMT for trauma survivors by Liang and Bryant (2024). The intervention will be delivered by an academically qualified dance movement therapist, who is also the researcher in this study. Each session will have the following elements: opening check-in and warm-up before proceeding to the main theme and a closing activity.

The intervention will be delivered in a group setting ( of max 8 participants ), at a community setting. There will be six overall intervention sessions, spread over six weeks.
Each session will be 60min, on a weekly basis. Attendance will be monitored by a session attendance checklist.

Check in: Few examples of check in activities: Participants will be sitting in a group circle where the therapist will check in with each participant, both verbally and non-verbally to understand their mood and concerns (Koch & Hervey, 2012). Focus on breathing and specific body parts may be used as well (Chaiklin & Schmais; 1993 Levy, 1988).
Warm up: The group and therapist will decide on the music to be played, and warm up will begin. Everyone will take turns with doing one warm up movement (Chaiklin & Schmais, 1993). One person will move, and the rest of the group will imitate this movement (Koch & Harvey, 2012, Baum, 1991). The group will move rhythmically together (Chaiklin & Schmais, 1993). The therapist’s movements will reflect the participants’ expressions and will be instrumental in forming a therapeutic relationship, rapport and empathy (Baum, 1991; Chaiklin & Schmais, 1993).

Participants will be led through simple exercises focusing on exploring simple movements that will access different emotions (eg: moving fast vs moving slow, moving with weight vs moving with lightness, moving in different directions etc). Another method could include a Chacian approach (Chaiklin & Schmais,1993), which includes playing music to match the tempo of the participants in the room, moving in unison with the participants, expanding movement patterns, encouraging participants to lead movements using rhythm.

Main theme: Every session, 1-2 participants will be encouraged to bring their own music to the session and move to help express their feelings (Koch & Harvey, 2012). The participants who bring the music will be known as the “movers”. During each group session, each mover will be encouraged to improvise their movements to their chosen music by following their inner movement impulses and thoughts and feelings (Koch & Harvey, 2012). The rest of the participants in the group will watch and try to follow the movement quality of the mover through a process of imitation (Koch & Harvey, 2012). The therapist will observe the movements elicited and elaborate these verbally using imagery and symbolism.

Closure: After the main part of the session, the therapist will invite the group to come together to reflect and exchange their experiences while moving (Koch & Harvey, 2012). The therapist will encourage the use of metaphors (figurative language), and symbolism (images/symbols) as a way of verbally expressing their feelings and thoughts. The session will close with some relaxation breathing and quiet time, and personal reflection by journal writing. The overall session uses a bottom-up approach for the women to express traumatic content that they may not be able to express verbally, using movement and dance, and thereby gaining control over their body and appreciate it as a source of strength (Koch & Harvey, 2012).



References:
Baum, E. Z. (1991). Movement therapy with multiple personality disorder patients. Dissociation, 4(2), 99–104.

Chaiklin, S., & Schmais, C. (1993). The Chace approach to dance therapy. In Sandel, S. L., Chaiklin, S., & Lohn, A. Foundation of Dance/Movement Therapy: The Life and Work of Marian Chace (pp.75-97). The Marian Chace Memorial Fund

Hegarty, K., Tarzia, L., Rees, S., Fooks, A., Forsdike, K., Woodlock, D., Simpson, L., McCormack, C., Amanatidis, S. (2017). Women’s Input to a Trauma-informed systems model of care in Health settings: The WITH study.

Koch, S. C., & Harvey, S. (2012). Dance/movement therapy with traumatized dissociative patients. In S. C. Koch, T. Fuchs, M. Summa, & C. Müller (Eds.), Advances in Consciousness Research (Vol. 84, pp. 369–385). John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/aicr.84.27koc

Liang, C. X., & Bryant, T. (2024). The use of dance and movement for the embodied healing of interpersonal trauma in women and girls: A systematic review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 25(4), 3241–3253. https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380241243399

Levy, F. J. (1988). Dance/Movement Therapy. A Healing Art. AAHPERD Publications, P. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED291746
Intervention code [1] 330273 0
Lifestyle
Intervention code [2] 330274 0
Behaviour
Intervention code [3] 330275 0
Treatment: Other
Comparator / control treatment
CONTROL PERIOD:
Control group will be receiving treatment as usual over an 6-week period while waiting for their intervention. This refers to the usual wellbeing groups that they choose to attend at their organizations, as well as engaging in any specific counselling provided by their organization.

After the experimental group ends intervention, the waitlist control group will then be invited to attend six weeks of intervention with a follow up and complete questionnaires during each session.
Control group
Active

Outcomes
Primary outcome [1] 340320 0
Change in trauma symptoms
Timepoint [1] 340320 0
Primary outcome measure (PCL-5; participant self-report). (20 items, 5 minutes) Completed by participants in a paper and pencil version collected at 1)During enrolment (baseline(t0)) 2)At the start of the first intervention session(, pretest (t1)) 3) At the end of intervention period, at the end of the final 6th session (t6). 4)6 weeks after completion of intervention sessions (t8).
Secondary outcome [1] 444132 0
Validity of outcome measure tool ( DOB BREVE )
Timepoint [1] 444132 0
After completion of intervention ( week 7)
Secondary outcome [2] 443706 0
The secondary composite outcome measure tool that will measure growth and development potential in women.
Timepoint [2] 443706 0
Outcomes using DOF BREVE and DOF BREVE SR will be administered immediately after every intervention session (Weeks 1/2/3/4/5/week 6)
Secondary outcome [3] 443707 0
Acceptability of intervention by Service providers
Timepoint [3] 443707 0
After completion of intervention ( week 7 )
Secondary outcome [4] 444423 0
Acceptability of intervention from participants
Timepoint [4] 444423 0
This will be at the end of the last (6th) intervention session ) ( t6)
Secondary outcome [5] 444424 0
Attrition rates of participants
Timepoint [5] 444424 0
1)Week 0 ( total number enrolled ) 2) Immediately after every intervention session ( Week 1/2/3/4/5/week 6) 2)After completion of intervention ( week 7) 3) 4 weeks and 8 weeks post-intervention completion
Secondary outcome [6] 444133 0
Recruitment rate of participants
Timepoint [6] 444133 0
Collected at Week 0.

Eligibility
Key inclusion criteria
• Interested and available to attend dance therapy for six sessions.
• Females aged 18 years of age or above and are consumers of the organization participating in the study.
• Identify as someone who has had an experience of family and domestic violence,
• Able to provide informed consent.
• Willing to complete outcome measures pre and post treatment sessions.
Minimum age
18 Years
Maximum age
No limit
Sex
Females
Can healthy volunteers participate?
No
Key exclusion criteria
Insufficient command of English for basic communication with therapist
• Participants for which facility staff recommend that the program may not be appropriate risky


Study design
Purpose of the study
Treatment
Allocation to intervention
Randomised controlled trial
Procedure for enrolling a subject and allocating the treatment (allocation concealment procedures)
Sealed opaque envelopes
Methods used to generate the sequence in which subjects will be randomised (sequence generation)
Online randomization program
Masking / blinding
Open (masking not used)
Who is / are masked / blinded?



Intervention assignment
Parallel
Other design features
Phase
Not Applicable
Type of endpoint/s
Efficacy
Statistical methods / analysis
Statistical analyses of the data will be performed using SPSS (version 24) or similar statistical packages. Demographic statistics will be presented in our publication on recruitment and retention of participants in both groups, including possible reasons for dropouts at different stages.
Missing values may include data points that are not recorded due to non-response, attrition, equipment malfunctions or incomplete data entry.
These missing values from scales will be imputed using the individual mean of the subscale based on the participant’s other answers at the same measurement point. To reduce potential bias introduced by dropouts, an intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis will be conducted for all participants who had completed the PCL-5 (t0) (van Ginkel et al., 2019).
Linear mixed model analysis (LMM) will be conducted for imputed data. This model will include main effects and interactions between groups (AB/BA) and time points. The timepoints (t1 and t6) will be analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) for primary outcome measure (PCL-5), to determine main effects between intervention and waitlist control cluster.
A random intercept model will be used to account for within-subject variation. These analyses will be performed using the formula provided by van Ginkel et al. (2019), which involves reformulating the ANOVA model as a regression model. This repeated measures (mixed model) ANOVA will analyse the changes in outcome measures (DOF BREVE & DOF BREVE SR) over time and compare each participant’s results at the following timepoints (t1, t2, t3, t4, t5, t6), using multiple F tests.
Finally, the change scores over the timepoints for PCL-5 (t1 and t6) will be correlated with change scores of other significant measures using the DOF BREVE and DOF BREVE SR to determine connections between these measures.

Focus Group: (Qualitative analysis)
Focus group interviews will be conducted at the end of the last intervention session. All focus group interviews will be audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. MAXqda software will be used to analyse the sample. The interviews will be analysed using thematic analysis (Clarke & Braun, 2017)
Steps taken will include Familiarization of data, generation of initial codes, searching for themes from data, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes and writing the report.

Reference
van Ginkel, J., Linting, M., Rippe, R., & van der Voort, A. (2019). Rebutting existing misconceptions about multiple imputation as a method for handling missing data. Journal of Personality Assessment, 102, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2018.1530680

Recruitment
Recruitment status
Active, not recruiting
Date of first participant enrolment
Anticipated
28/03/2025
Actual
28/03/2025
Date of last participant enrolment
Anticipated
24/04/2025
Actual
24/04/2025
Date of last data collection
Anticipated
8/08/2026
Actual
Sample size
Target
30
Accrual to date
Final
30
Recruitment in Australia
Recruitment state(s)
WA

Funding & Sponsors
Funding source category [1] 318141 0
University
Name [1] 318141 0
University of Melbourne
Country [1] 318141 0
Australia
Primary sponsor type
University
Name
University of Melbourne
Address
Country
Australia
Secondary sponsor category [1] 320527 0
None
Name [1] 320527 0
Address [1] 320527 0
Country [1] 320527 0
Other collaborator category [1] 283354 0
Individual
Name [1] 283354 0
Dr Imogen Clark, University of Melbourne
Address [1] 283354 0
Country [1] 283354 0
Australia
Other collaborator category [2] 283564 0
Individual
Name [2] 283564 0
Dr Ella Dumaresq, University of Melbourne
Address [2] 283564 0
Country [2] 283564 0
Australia
Other collaborator category [3] 283355 0
Individual
Name [3] 283355 0
Professor Sabine Koch, Director Research Institute of Creative Arts Therapies, Alanus University, in Germany. She is also an honorary fellow at Creative Arts and Music Therapy Research Unit, University of Melbourne, Australia.
Address [3] 283355 0
Country [3] 283355 0
Germany

Ethics approval
Ethics application status
Approved
Ethics committee name [1] 316787 0
University of Melbourne Central Human Research Ethics Committee
Ethics committee address [1] 316787 0
Ethics committee country [1] 316787 0
Australia
Date submitted for ethics approval [1] 316787 0
29/01/2025
Approval date [1] 316787 0
04/04/2025
Ethics approval number [1] 316787 0
2025-31722-64772-3

Summary
Brief summary
Trial website
Trial related presentations / publications
Public notes

Contacts
Principal investigator
Name 139010 0
Dr Imogen Clark
Address 139010 0
Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, The University of Melbourne AUSTRALIA Office: Building 862, Room 228, 234 St Kilda Rd Southbank VIC 3006
Country 139010 0
Australia
Phone 139010 0
+614 19 371 960
Fax 139010 0
Email 139010 0
[email protected]
Contact person for public queries
Name 139011 0
Thilaga Letchumi, Sarunga Raja
Address 139011 0
Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, The University of Melbourne AUSTRALIA Office: Building 862, Room 228, 234 St Kilda Rd Southbank VIC 3006
Country 139011 0
Australia
Phone 139011 0
+61 413178137
Fax 139011 0
Email 139011 0
[email protected]
Contact person for scientific queries
Name 139012 0
Thilaga Letchumi, Sarunga Raja
Address 139012 0
Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, The University of Melbourne AUSTRALIA Office: Building 862, Room 228, 234 St Kilda Rd Southbank VIC 3006
Country 139012 0
Australia
Phone 139012 0
+61 413178137
Fax 139012 0
Email 139012 0
[email protected]

Data sharing statement
Will the study consider sharing individual participant data?
No


What supporting documents are/will be available?



Results publications and other study-related documents

Documents added manually
No documents have been uploaded by study researchers.

Documents added automatically
No additional documents have been identified.