None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
There continues to be a culturally embedded perspective that performing artists may need to “suffer for their art” and often wellness and artistry are treated as if they are unrelated. This randomised controlled trial will compare the effect of a 7week wellbeing and performance enhancement program with mindfulness, to a waitlist control group who receive the education only (without the mindfulness component), for Professional Ballet Dancers employed at The Australian Ballet. Dancers will be asked to complete electronic questionnaires and semistructured interviews in addition to completing the wellbeing program.
Interventions
The RCT has been proposed for this study to compare the effect of a 7 week
wellbeing and performance program called ‘Mindfulness Acceptance Commitment (MAC) for
Performance Enhancement’ with a waitlist control group. Specifically, this trial will examine if the MAC program increases subjective and psychological wellbeing in Professional Ballet Dancers at The Australian Ballet. The face to face sessions will be conducted once a week for 30 minutes over a total of 7 weeks. Mode of administration:
The RCT has been proposed for this study to compare the effect of a 7 week wellbeing and performance program called ‘Mindfulness Acceptance Commitment (MAC) for Performance Enhancement’ with a waitlist control group. Specifically, this trial will examine if the MAC program increases subjective and psychological wellbeing in Professional Ballet Dancers at The Australian Ballet. The face to face sessions will be conducted once a week for 30 minutes over a total of 7 weeks. Mode of administration: groups of approximately 10, we anticipate there will be approximately 10 participants in each of the 2 groups. All participants will complete a baseline quantitative questionnaire after which they will be randomly allocated to either the intervention or waitlist group. The intervention group will be provided with education and mindfulness training, whilst the waitlist control group will receive the education component only. The waitlist control group will be provided with an opportunity to receive the mindfulness component after the study should they be interested. All participants will be quantitatively reassessed at week 8 completing the same initial questionnaire from week 1. Participants will be asked to refrain from completing other psychological skills training for the duration of the intervention. Each participant will work with the student researcher with whom they will complete 7 x 30 minute sessions. The intervention sessions will include education about injury, performance and recovery and incorporate a mixture of theory and practice in mindfulness and acceptance and commitment training. The waitlist control group, they will be provided with the education component including injury, performance and recovery only. In week 8, semistructured interviews with participants from both the intervention and the waitlist control group will be conducted to gain further depth and insight into awareness of holistic wellbeing and performance. * Participants will be provided with a voucher at the completion of week 8, funded by the student researcher, in appreciation of their time and in an attempt to encourage adherence and participation for the duration of the 8 week study period. *Participants will be asked to not discuss their program procedures with others in order to try to control for contamination effects. During data collection, all data from participants will be coded as participant numbers. A participant number will be placed on the data and the name of participant cut off the top of any forms. Only the participant number will be included in the data set. A master list will be created that includes names and participant numbers and will remain in a folder on the student researcher's personal, locked computer. The student researcher holds a teacher training certificate in Mindfulness, has been trained in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and has an accreditation in the development of wellness programs. The student researcher will also follow the MAC protocol (c.f., Gardner & Moore, 2007) that includes a stepbystep protocol for the performance enhancement program.
Sponsors
La Trobe University
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Educational / counselling / training
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 40 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Professional dancers at The Australian Ballet, employed full time and over the age of 18 years will be invited to participate.
Exclusion criteria
Participants will be excluded from the study if they have: a) participated in a Mindfulness Acceptance–Commitment program previously, b) if they have participated in a mindfulness program in the last 12 months and c) if they have previously engaged (in the last 12 months) or currently engage in mindfulness training via a web based application, such as Headspace or the like.
Outcome results
None listed