Dance therapy trial reported anxiety improvement alongside worsening optimism
Emotional results were mixed in a small study enrolling breast cancer survivors and healthy women; the abstract leaves some outcomes and group characteristics unclear.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
The dance group showed improved anxiety compared with its starting scores and with the control groups. Optimism moved in opposite directions: it worsened in the dance group and improved in control group I. These mixed findings do not establish a broad emotional benefit, and the abstract does not clearly report all measured outcomes.
This abstract-based summary cannot determine how large or clinically important the anxiety change was. The abstract also does not explicitly identify the health status of participants in each control group or clearly report stress and depressive-symptom results for the dance group.
What researchers found
Beck Anxiety Inventory scores
After 12 weeks, the dance group improved relative to baseline and the control groups (p ≤ 0.001); the abstract gives no change magnitude.
What researchers assessed
Researchers used the Beck Anxiety Inventory to assess anxiety and separate questionnaires for perceived stress, optimism, and depressive symptoms. The study therefore examined several emotional outcomes rather than anxiety alone.
Other reported outcomes
Optimism worsened in the dance group but improved in control group I. For control group II, the abstract reports no changes across the measured outcomes, without detailed estimates of those comparisons.
The original publication
Effects of dance therapy on anxiety, stress, optimism and depressive symptoms in women undergoing breast cancer surgery: a randomized clinical trial.
Petzold Werle S, da Silveira J, de Azevedo Guimarães AC
J Bodyw Mov Ther · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 41316614
- Record checked
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