Date of Award

4-2024

Degree Type

Capstone Project

Degree Name

Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD)

Department

Occupational Therapy

First Advisor

Kaitlyn Pollock

Second Advisor

Holly Grieves

Abstract

Mental health continues to be a concern for all ages, especially those within the period of adolescence. Adolescence is a time of great physical, cognitive, social, and emotional change that can be positively facilitated with support and strong coping skills. Adolescent dancers have additional demands placed upon them within the dance space. Adults can play a large role in this support, especially adults who serve as educators and coaches. Dance educators have the opportunity to work closely with dancers and can have great influence on both their physical and emotional health, but are not often trained to be mindful of their mental health. Occupational therapy has a unique ability to analyze the demands on dancers and teachers to create an individualized approach to facilitating positive mental health in the dance world. This capstone was created to create a mental health curriculum to inform and create mindful dance educators working with adolescent dancers by utilizing occupational therapy’s unique perspective to analyze the needs, tasks, and occupations of dance teachers, dancers, and adolescents to create a unique, specialized dance education curriculum that prioritizes mental health and participation in dance.

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