Mental Health in Dancers; an Intervention Study
Mental Health in Dancers; an Intervention Study
International studies reveal high prevalence of eating disorders (ED) and mental health
 issues amongst professional dancers, and the Norwegian National Ballet's house previously
 (2005) reported a lifetime prevalence of ED by 50% amongst female ballet dancers. Mental
 health issues and ED have been acknowledged for several years in most sports; still the same
 do not apply to dance sports. The objective of this study is to improve the knowledge on
 prevalence of mental health issues in professional dancers and the corresponding awareness of
 such among dance teachers. Additional objectives are to evaluate the effect of an
 intervention aimed to improve knowledge on nutrition, recovery strategies and mental health
 literacy among professional dancers and their teachers.
It is well documented that professional dancing increases the risk for, or strongly
 associates to, mental health issues like eating disorders, anxiety, and compulsive-obsessive
 disorders. As much as the international sport society has acknowledged the challenges on ED
 in sport, the same do not apply to dance. The point prevalence of ED in the general european
 population is about 0.3-4.0%, with a corresponding prevalence amongst professional dancers of
 12.0-26.5%. Furthermore, the highest risk for ED among dance discipline is found to be within
 ballet. There are no reports on prevalence in Norwegian dancers; however, the Norwegian
 National Ballet's house reports a lifetime prevalence of 50% amongst ballet dancers. Previous
 studies have identified low knowledge and practice on performance nutrition and weight
 regulation strategies among dancers and their teachers. Findings indicates high risk of low
 energy availability, implying a high risk for the many associated negative effects on
 physical and mental health and performance capacity. Additionally, studies finds high levels
 of body dissatisfaction, body weight concern, perfectionism and low self-esteem, and also
 high prevalence of anxiety and depression.

 Several intervention studies finds positive effect on body dissatisfaction, disordered eating
 behaviour, nutritional intake in sport athletes, and also in ballet dancers in the US and
 Canada. Nevertheless, so far there haven't been any intervention in Norwegian dancers.

 The objective with this study is to explore mental health in professional dancers and their
 knowledge on recovery strategies and nutritional needs, and to implement and evaluate the
 effect of an intervention designed to improve these aspects. A group of performance art
 students serves as control to the intervention effect. Additionally this study evaluates the
 knowledge of these issues amongst dancers and how to deal with such issues, in dance
 teachers, and aims to implement and evaluate the effect of an intervention designed to
 improve the knowledge on these aspects.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  professional dancers at the Norwegian University of dance

 -  dance teacher at the Norwegian University of dance

 -  art student at the Oslo National Acadmey of the Arts

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  Not student or dance teacher at the Norwegian University of dance, or student at the
 Oslo National Acadmey of the Arts