ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Pediatric Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1616329
This article is part of the Research TopicDance, Brain, and Cognition: Advancing Understanding Through Movement ScienceView all articles
Understanding Dance/Movement Therapy: A Qualitative Study of Chinese Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Provisionally accepted
- 1Capital Normal University, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
- 2Jeonju University, Jeonju, Republic of Korea
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This study explored an aspect of the application of dance/movement therapy (DMT), a method from the West, in the treatment of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in China, specifically how these children’s parents understood DMT. We used descriptive qualitative-research methods to explore how five Chinese parents of children with ASD perceived and interpreted DMT. Three data types were collected: videos of sessions, in-depth interviews, and movement interviews. Ultimately, the data-analysis process extracted 158 codes, 48 subcategories, 14 categories, and five main themes: (1) Facing the Unknown but Willing to Try, (2) Observing Embodied Communication and Emotional Growth, (3) Witnessing an Unexpected Therapeutic Relationship, (4) Seeing Therapy Extend into Daily Life, and (5) Reflecting on Parenting and Family Changes. Our results provide foundational insights for implementing and promoting DMT within the Chinese cultural context, based on parents' perspectives.
Keywords: Dance/movement therapy, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Caregivers, parentalperception, China
Received: 23 Apr 2025; Accepted: 22 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Fan and Ko. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Kyung Soon Ko, dmt.edu.korea@gmail.com
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