224 Dance Artist and Physiotherapist Collaboration in Stroke Rehabilitation

Abstract

Many studies have measured the benefits of dance for patients, in particular those with Parkinson's disease, with positive effects demonstrated in functional measures, wellbeing and patient experience. However, neither the value of dance when used as an adjunct to stroke rehabilitation nor the act of collaboration between dance artist and physiotherapist has previously been studied.Aim: To explore the experience and process of collaboration between the physiotherapist and dance artist when dance is used as an adjunct to conventional physiotherapy post-stroke in a geriatric medicine and stroke service in a university teaching hospital.The study used a descriptive qualitative design and a convenience sample of 8 participants were recruited from the stroke rehabilitation ward. The physiotherapist advised the dance artist on specific movement goals for each session. The physiotherapist and dance artist kept individual diaries which included subjective and professional assessment of sessions. Exploratory analysis was used to discover emerging themes.Themes identified fell into the categories of physiotherapist learning, dance artist learning, collaborative process, language, and the therapeutic relationship.While benefits such as greater liberation of patients’ movements and higher endurance rates were recorded, what was particularly of note was the communication between the physiotherapist and the dance artist. The language used was key: physiotherapy discourse tends to be more specific to particular movements whereas the dance artist relates more to the overall movement of the individual, identifying movement patterns and habits.The dance artist uses the lens of choreological studies (the science of movement) when working with patients and this way of working was particularly beneficial. In particular the use of motif writing became an invaluable resource in terms of communication.Within this study we questioned: what is required to create successful collaboration within a medical context? We hope that describing how this particular collaboration was successful will benefit those interested in similar collaborations.