The Project
This study examines the potential of dance to improve social inclusion for people living with dementia and carers. Research suggests that arts-based programs can improve the health of people living with dementia and carers; however, little is known about how these programs might address barriers to social inclusion. Addressing barriers requires the development and evaluation of accessible, non-stigmatizing and affordable programs that facilitate social inclusion across the continuum of institutional, community and household care settings.
Pilot Studies
This study involves a qualitative sequential pilot study of the innovative Baycrest NBS Sharing Dance Seniors program underway in non-metropolitan regions of two Canadian provinces, Peterborough, Ontario and Brandon (Westman) Manitoba. It focuses on the remotely-instructed delivery of the program in care facilities, community centres and households. Learn more
GOAL:
To investigate the potential to improve social inclusion for people with dementia and their carers through the expansion of Canada’s National Ballet School Sharing Dance with Seniors program
About Social Inclusion
Our definition of social inclusion as a multi-dimensional process and outcome draws on a conceptual framework developed at the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology by Walsh and colleagues (2012). Recognizing the often-unidimensional limitations of existing models, this framework suggests that social inclusion is best understood by looking at the dynamic linkages between social relations, access to services, financial resources, transportation and mobility, safety and security, macro-economic forces, place and community characteristics, individual capacities, and life-course trajectories. Walsh et al provide a multi-layered, multi-dimensional approach to inclusion that emphasizes the relationship between individual and structural factors in producing inclusion. Their framework is successful in illustrating how people and organizations can shape programs, practices, policies, and attitudes to more fully include those who experience exclusion, but it is not attentive to the embodied and experiential nature of inclusion. This study adopts and expands Walsh et al.’s [4] framework, which has not yet been used to explore the experiences of people living with dementia or of carers.
Walsh, K., O’Shea, E., and Scharf, T. (2012) Social Exclusion and Ageing in Diverse Rural Communities. Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, Galway.
About Sharing Dance
An innovative, community-oriented dance program, Sharing Dance Seniors is a joint venture between Canada’s National Ballet School (NBS) and Baycrest Health Sciences. The Sharing Dance Seniors program is unique in Canada and internationally in its aim to make dance accessible to older adults with a range of physical and cognitive abilities, including people living with dementia. The program involves a suite of remotely instructed (streamed) dance sessions to participants in institutional and community settings with on-site facilitators supporting participants. The program is currently being piloted for nation-wide expansion as part of a multi-sectoral strategic partnership with the Public Health Agency of Canada in collaboration with long-term (residential) care homes, regional home care providers, and community support agencies.
Sharing Dance Seniors is currently offered as two levels. Level 1 is designed to be accessible to people with significant physical and/or cognitive impairment such as dementia. The program is taught in 45-minute sessions and danced entirely from a seated position. Level 2 is designed for people with minor physical and/or cognitive impairment associated with aging. The program is taught in 60-minute sessions and includes both seated and standing options for participants to decide for themselves what feels most appropriate. Both levels follow a set protocol that outlines a series of dances each with specific creative and physical goals and rationale.
Unlike dance therapy that aims to ameliorate specific symptoms this program focusses on guiding participants through an accessible creative and artistic experience. For example, opportunities are provided for participants to express their life-stories through movement, which is a key goal of the narrative dance approach. Sharing Dance Seniors aims to provide participants with a dance experience as similar as possible to that of any traditional dance class, while simultaneously prioritizing accessibility to older adults with physical and or cognitive challenges. These objectives are distinct from dance therapy, which specifically aims to improve neuropsychiatric symptoms such as agitation and cognitive and physical functioning, largely overlooking what are considered ‘softer’ positive benefits including empowerment, communication and creative self-expression, communal spirit, pleasurable experience, and sociability. The aims of the dance program align directly with this study’s interest in social inclusion as they prioritize expressive capacities and social interaction in the group rather than positioning these processes and outcomes as secondary to physical and cognitive outcomes.
