Researchers searched PubMed/MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus and the Cochrane Library from their inception through 11 September 2026, using three search strategies covering clinical outcomes, candidate mechanisms and implementation and safety. After deduplication, 8,835 unique records were screened, and 78 sources ultimately contributed to the narrative synthesis: 36 informed clinical evidence, 37 informed mechanisms, and 23 informed implementation, with some sources serving more than one role. This was a purposive structured narrative review rather than a systematic review or meta-analysis, so it did not pool effect estimates or formally grade the certainty of evidence.

The central distinction is between rhythmic dance interventions, or RDI, and dance/movement therapy, or DMT. RDI generally uses structured, music-accompanied movement in classes or groups, emphasizing participation, enjoyment, physical activation and social engagement. DMT is a psychotherapy-oriented modality in which movement serves as the primary medium for emotional expression, embodied awareness, relational exploration and reflective integration within a therapeutic relationship. DMT is generally delivered by a qualified dance/movement therapist or appropriately trained clinician, with clinical formulation, supervision and referral responsibilities that are not usually part of a community dance class.

Recent trials illustrate why the population and format must remain attached to each result. A randomized study of 84 rural left-behind youths with social anxiety compared Latin dance, mindfulness and a combined program with no intervention; all three groups improved, while the combination produced the most sustained reductions. In a quasi-experimental study of 55 female adolescents in a juvenile detention center, eight weeks of DMT were associated with a 16% reduction in Beck Anxiety Inventory scores, an average body-temperature increase of 0.11 ± 0.07°C and an approximately 30% rise in plasma dopamine, although the single-center design did not establish a complete causal pathway. These physiological observations are process markers, not proof that dopamine or temperature changes mediated improvement.

Other controlled studies reported favorable but qualified findings. Among 142 college students with depressed mood, modern, classical and ballet dance were associated with lower self-rated depression scores, while jazz and control groups did not show significant improvement; heart-rate variability was measured as a possible autonomic marker, but no formal mediation analysis was performed. A randomized study involving 1,261 left-behind children found that structured moderate-intensity dance reduced loneliness and increased self-esteem, yet the outcomes were self-reported and the comparator was usual living conditions. A 12-week trial in 86 policewomen with elevated anxiety found earlier and stronger state-anxiety, trait-anxiety and cognitive-reappraisal improvements with mindfulness-based aerobic dance than with traditional aerobic dance, although attrition, self-report measures and the absence of a non-exercise control limit interpretation.

The most direct psychotherapy-oriented evidence comes from small DMT studies. A wait-list-controlled trial in 36 university students with depression and anxiety symptoms reported reduced symptoms immediately after intensive DMT, with benefits maintained at three months, while a three-person case series in adults with treatment-resistant depression suggested improvements in stress, interoceptive awareness and embodied experience without providing inferential efficacy evidence. In a separate 23-person randomized clinical trial among women after breast-cancer surgery, free dance improved depressive symptoms, whereas dance therapy improved anxiety and body-image outcomes differed between groups. These studies support plausibility, but their small samples, sequential intervention design, adherence differences and diverse controls prevent a pooled estimate of benefit.

Supportive studies in medical populations broaden the possible reach of dance-based care without equating it to disorder-specific evidence. A culturally adapted dance program for 176 women receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer reduced a combined fatigue, sleep-disturbance and depression symptom cluster and improved quality of life at week 17. A 24-person pilot trial in people with Parkinson’s disease found greater percentage improvements in depression, trait anxiety and apathy for a multisensory artistic dance program than for conventional physiotherapy, with no dance-program adverse events or dropouts reported. Such findings suggest potential psychological and rehabilitative value, but depression and anxiety were not the primary diagnoses in these cohorts, and the trials cannot establish effectiveness for people seeking treatment for those disorders.

The review organizes proposed mechanisms into five candidate pathways: rhythmic entrainment and structured attention; behavioral activation and reward engagement; emotion regulation and reduction of repetitive negative thinking; interoceptive and autonomic regulation; and social connectedness and interpersonal co-regulation. Rhythmic cues may provide temporal structure that supports coordinated action and sustained attention, while enjoyable movement, mastery and group participation may encourage activation and reward engagement. DMT may additionally support emotional expression and reflective processing, and shared movement may strengthen affiliation, perceived safety and interpersonal co-regulation. However, few trials have linked a specific dance component to a proximal process measure and then to a later clinical outcome, so these remain hypotheses rather than confirmed mediators.

To make programs reproducible and testable, the authors propose a provisional FITT + 3R reporting framework. FITT covers frequency, intensity, time and type, while the additional dimensions capture Rhythm, Relationship and Reflection. Rhythm reporting would document the music or cueing source, approximate tempo range, rhythmic regularity, cueing method, movement complexity and progression. Relationship reporting would identify whether movement is solo, paired, small-group, whole-group, synchronous, mirrored or partner-based. Reflection would record whether sessions include no discussion, brief support, structured emotional processing or formal psychotherapeutic integration. The framework and the accompanying intervention taxonomy are reporting and research tools, not a validated clinical guideline, dosing algorithm or rule for matching a patient to a specific dance format.

Safety and implementation require more than an enthusiasm for movement. The review proposes screening for physical limitations, fall risk, cardiovascular or respiratory disease, pain and medication effects, alongside psychological considerations such as trauma destabilization, dissociation, panic vulnerability, body-image distress and social-evaluative sensitivity. Trauma-informed delivery can emphasize choice, predictability, bodily autonomy, opt-out options, careful management of touch and proximity, and clear stop criteria. Programs may also need predefined pathways for urgent psychiatric or medical review, while studies should report attendance, dropout, satisfaction, adherence, follow-up and both physical and psychological adverse events. The evidence supports cautious optimism and further well-designed trials, but not a claim that dance therapy has been proven equivalent to established psychiatric, psychological or medical treatments.

Subject of Research: Clinical evidence for dance-based interventions in depression and anxiety

Article Title: Rhythmic dance interventions and dance/movement therapy for depression and anxiety: a structured narrative review of clinical evidence, candidate mechanisms, and implementation considerations

Article References: Chen, X., Wang, T., Wang, J., & Tan, J. (2026). Rhythmic dance interventions and dance/movement therapy for depression and anxiety: a structured narrative review of clinical evidence, candidate mechanisms, and implementation considerations. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 17, Article 1944858. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1944858

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1944858

Keywords: dance movement therapy, rhythmic dance interventions, depression, anxiety, mental health, clinical evidence, behavioral activation, interoception, implementation science, Rhythmic, dance, interventions

The research team, led by investigators at Edge Hill University and the University of Manchester, set out to fill a stubborn gap in the evidence base. While the World Health Organization estimates that one in seven children and young people worldwide live with mental health concerns, and the OECD reports that youth mental health worsened in nine of eleven analysed countries between 2012 and 2022, services remain dominated by talking therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy. Waiting lists in some systems stretch beyond two years, and many young people never access care at all. Arts-based interventions, the researchers argue, could bridge that gap, provided the evidence supporting them is rigorous enough to convince clinicians and policymakers.

Previous syntheses had either been very broad, such as the 2019 WHO scoping review of more than 3,000 studies on arts and health, or very narrow, focusing on a single art form like music or dance. The new study took a different approach: it included all six major arts modalities, dance and movement, literary arts, media, music, theatre and performance, and visual arts, craft and design, as well as multimodal combinations, and drew exclusively on randomised controlled trials published between 2005 and 2025. The protocol was prospectively registered, and the team searched five major databases, ultimately screening 2,446 records after deduplication and assessing 434 full-text reports.

The results are striking. At the end of intervention, arts-based interventions produced a very large reduction in depression scores, with a standardised mean difference of 1.06, based on 23 comparisons from 22 trials involving 1,655 participants. Anxiety showed a large effect of 0.75 standardised mean differences across 56 comparisons from 48 trials and 3,898 participants. Wellbeing and health-related quality of life improved moderately, with effect sizes of 0.53 and 0.54 respectively. Crucially, the benefits did not evaporate the moment the final session ended: follow-up data collected at least one month after interventions showed sustained reductions in depression (0.51) and anxiety (0.67), though these estimates rest on far fewer trials.

Perhaps the most methodologically interesting aspect of the review is its use of physiological biomarkers as objective checks on self-reported outcomes. Because participants in arts interventions cannot be blinded to what they are receiving, self-report measures are vulnerable to expectation effects. The researchers therefore synthesised data on heart rate, blood pressure and cortisol. Arts-based interventions reduced resting heart rate by an average of 4.53 beats per minute across 29 comparisons from 25 studies, and lowered systolic blood pressure by an average of 4.04 mmHg across 15 comparisons. Cortisol changes were smaller and inconclusive. The authors note that population-level reductions in blood pressure and resting heart rate of this magnitude are typically associated with lower long-term cardiovascular risk, suggesting the interventions may confer physiological as well as psychological benefits.

Subgroup analyses revealed intriguing patterns. Effects on depression were larger when interventions were compared against passive controls such as waitlists or usual care rather than active comparators, a well-known phenomenon in psychotherapy research. For anxiety, theatre and performance interventions and multimodal programmes produced the largest effects, outperforming music, visual arts, dance and literary arts. Children aged 9 to 13 appeared especially responsive, showing larger gains in anxiety, quality of life and blood pressure than other age groups, which the authors suggest may make middle childhood a particularly fruitful developmental window. Notably, there was no clear difference between formal arts therapies delivered by qualified therapists and broader participatory arts activities, although the authors caution that this comparison is constrained by a heavy imbalance in the evidence base, with 64 of the 77 meta-analysed trials involving non-therapy arts interventions.

The findings come with important caveats. Heterogeneity across studies was very high, particularly for depression, where the I-squared statistic reached 97 percent, meaning the pooled effect size should not be read as a universal property of arts interventions. When the team removed three studies with implausibly large effect sizes, the depression estimate fell from 1.06 to 0.58, still statistically significant and moderate to large. Removing studies judged at high risk of bias produced a similar attenuation to 0.70. Only four of the 77 meta-analysed trials were rated at low risk of bias, with most lacking pre-specified protocols, adequate allocation concealment reporting, or any possibility of blinding participants. Funnel plot asymmetry hinted at publication bias for depression, anxiety and heart rate outcomes, and GRADE certainty ratings were downgraded to very low for depression and anxiety and low for wellbeing and quality of life.

There is also a structural limitation the authors are candid about: the included trials spanned enormously different contexts. Brief single-session music listening before a dental procedure was pooled alongside multi-week dance movement therapy for diagnosed depression, and the vulnerable population category bundled together children facing everything from burn dressing changes to autism spectrum disorder to kidnapping trauma. Sample sizes ranged from 12 to 463 participants, and no included study used a clinical diagnostic interview as an outcome measure. The scarcity of follow-up data beyond one month, particularly for wellbeing and quality of life, means the durability of benefits remains largely unknown, although one cited school-based programme, Arts for the Blues, reported positive effects up to six months later.

Despite these limitations, the authors argue the overall pattern of evidence positions arts-based interventions as credible, accessible additions to the mental health support landscape for young people, with average effects broadly similar to those reported for talking therapies in comparable populations. They emphasise, however, that policymakers must distinguish between arts activities with therapeutic intent and formal arts therapies delivered by trained professionals, particularly when designing services, allocating resources and planning workforce training. They also point to the potential role of community-based arts programmes in social prescribing schemes that could relieve pressure on clinical services while reaching communities that traditional services often miss.

The research team calls for larger, higher-quality trials with standardised outcome measures, agreed intervention lengths and follow-up timepoints, and routine incorporation of physiological biomarkers alongside psychological outcomes. Head-to-head comparisons between arts interventions and established treatments such as cognitive behavioural therapy are conspicuously absent from the literature and represent a key next step. For now, the message from this landmark synthesis is that the evidence for arts-based mental health support for children and young people has moved decisively beyond anecdote, and that the creative arts may deserve a formal place in how societies respond to a youth mental health crisis that conventional services alone are struggling to contain.

Subject of Research: Effects of arts-based interventions and arts therapies on mental health outcomes in children and young people

Article Title: The effects of the arts and arts therapies on mental health outcomes of children and young people: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Article References: Cheung, P. S., Rhodes, S., Bahr, E., Lakena, W., Sajnani, N., Fietje, N., & Karkou, V. (2026). The effects of the arts and arts therapies on mental health outcomes of children and young people: a systematic review and meta-analysis. eClinicalMedicine, 101, Article 104261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2026.104261

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2026.104261

Keywords: arts therapies, mental health, children and young people, meta-analysis, depression, anxiety, randomised controlled trials, wellbeing, quality of life, biomarkers, music therapy, systematic review

The trial enrolled 24 traumatized refugee women living in communities across Southern Germany, drawn from six different countries of origin. The researchers used a controlled within-group design in which every participant served as her own comparator across time. Each woman was assessed at three points: a baseline measurement (t1), a pretest after an eight-week waiting period (t2), and a posttest following the intervention (t3). This waiting-period structure is methodologically important. Because the women received no other psychotherapy during the entire study period, any change in symptoms during the waiting phase could be attributed to natural recovery, the passage of time, or the mere attention of being assessed. When all symptom scores remained essentially unchanged across those first eight weeks, the researchers could be considerably more confident that whatever happened afterward was linked to the therapy itself.

The measurement strategy reflected the linguistic and cultural diversity of the sample. The primary outcome was the Refugee Health Screener-15 (RHS-15), a validated instrument developed specifically to detect emotional distress in refugee populations. Secondary measures included the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS21) and the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Checklist (PCL-S), the latter a 17-item instrument used to characterize posttraumatic stress severity. Crucially, all scales were administered in an interview format in each participant’s native language or a language she spoke well, with trained interviewers rather than self-completed questionnaires. This attention to language matters enormously in refugee research, where literacy barriers, unfamiliar response formats and subtle translation problems can systematically distort results. The researchers also conducted an exploratory follow-up with ten participants to examine whether gains persisted beyond the end of treatment.

The intervention itself consisted of eight weekly group sessions, each lasting 1.5 hours, delivered by trained dance movement therapists. Dance movement therapy, or DMT, is one of the creative arts therapies recognized by professional bodies such as the American Dance Therapy Association and its German counterpart. Rather than asking clients to narrate traumatic memories verbally, DMT works through the body: movement improvisation, rhythmic coordination, and expressive physical activity are used as the primary channels of therapeutic work. Two design features of this trial stand out. First, the sessions incorporated music that was emotionally meaningful to the participants themselves, drawing on their own cultural traditions rather than imposing a Western therapeutic soundtrack. Second, the women created their own dance improvisations within the group setting, making the therapy a participatory and culturally adaptive process rather than a standardized protocol imposed from outside.

The results were remarkable in their consistency. At baseline, every woman in the study showed clinically relevant levels of trauma symptoms, confirming the depth of need in this population. During the waiting period, as noted, nothing changed—symptoms of trauma, stress, depression and anxiety all held steady. After the eight weeks of dance movement therapy, however, all four symptom domains dropped significantly. Most strikingly, on the PCL-S trauma measure, scores fell so markedly that the group average dropped below the clinical cutoff value, meaning that the women moved, on average, from a symptom range that would warrant a PTSD diagnosis into the non-clinical range. The statistical analysis employed Greenhouse-Geisser corrected F-tests, a technique that adjusts for potential violations of sphericity in repeated-measures data, alongside t-tests for related samples comparing the matched time points.

The exploratory follow-up added an important nuance to the picture. When ten of the participants were reassessed eight weeks after the intervention ended, the symptom reductions appeared to hold—the benefits carried on. At a one-year follow-up, however, the effects were no longer evident. This pattern, common across many psychotherapy studies for posttraumatic stress, suggests that dance movement therapy can initiate genuine recovery but that some form of maintenance—booster sessions, ongoing group participation, or continued low-intensity support—may be needed to sustain the gains over the long term. For a population whose lives remain marked by insecure residency status, separation from family, and ongoing acculturation stress, the disappearance of treatment effects at one year is less a failure of the therapy than a reminder that trauma recovery is rarely a single event.

Why might moving the body help where words struggle? The theoretical rationale draws on a growing understanding of how trauma is encoded and expressed physiologically. Posttraumatic stress is not purely a cognitive condition; it involves autonomic dysregulation, muscular bracing, disrupted breathing, and a fragmented sense of bodily self. Survivors of violence often experience profound disconnection from their own bodies, and talk-based therapies depend precisely on the verbal reflective capacities that chronic stress and hypervigilance can suppress. Dance movement therapy targets these somatic dimensions directly: rhythmic group movement can regulate arousal, synchronized movement with others rebuilds experiences of trust and social connection, and improvised expression allows emotions to be externalized without requiring linguistic articulation. The incorporation of familiar music from participants’ own cultures may further enhance emotional engagement and safety, addressing a well-known barrier in cross-cultural mental health care where standardized Western interventions can feel foreign or intrusive.

The clinical and economic implications are significant. The authors describe DMT as a low-threshold and cost-effective approach, and the characterization is apt. Group therapy requires fewer therapist hours per patient than individual treatment. It does not depend on a shared spoken language between therapist and client in the way cognitive behavioral therapy does, although skilled, culturally competent therapists remain essential. It can be delivered in community settings rather than specialized clinics, and the participants in this study were recruited through psychosocial centers for refugees and torture victims rather than through psychiatric pathways. For health systems in Germany and across Europe that are chronically unable to meet the mental health needs of refugee populations—remember that fewer than one in ten refugees in need in Germany receives care—interventions that are accessible, acceptable across cultural backgrounds and scalable hold obvious appeal.

Honest appraisal requires acknowledging the study’s limits, and the authors are transparent about them. The within-group design, while strengthened by the waiting-period control, is less rigorous than a randomized controlled trial with an active comparison group; placebo effects, expectancy effects and non-specific therapeutic attention cannot be fully excluded. The sample of 24 women is small, although the authors note it was fully powered for the primary analyses, and the loss of more than half the sample at follow-up restricts the long-term conclusions. The trial was also retrospectively registered at the Center for Open Science in March 2023, which some methodologists would flag. The authors themselves emphasize that the lack of high-quality studies with proper control conditions and long-term follow-ups in this field points to a clear need for future research with more rigorous methodologies, ideally multi-site randomized trials that replicate the culturally adaptive elements that appear central to this intervention’s success.

Even with those caveats, the study adds meaningful weight to the evidence base for creative arts therapies in trauma care, a field that has often relied on smaller or less controlled studies. What makes these findings resonate beyond the statistics is the population at their center: women who survived violence in the countries they left, danger along the routes they traveled, and precarity in the places where they landed, and who in most cases had never before received any mental health treatment. That eight weekly sessions of moving together, accompanied by music that mattered to them, could pull their average trauma symptoms below a clinical threshold is a result worth taking seriously. It suggests that healing for survivors of displacement may not always require words—and that the body, so often the register in which trauma is written, can also be the medium through which recovery begins. The next step is to confirm these effects in larger, randomized trials and to determine how the benefits can be sustained over years, not months. For the twenty-four women who took part, however, the value of those eight weeks has already been measured.

Subject of Research: Effects of dance movement therapy on trauma, stress, depression and anxiety in traumatized refugee women

Article Title: The effect of dance movement therapy on traumatized refugee women – a clinical controlled trial

Article References: Koch, S. C., Nazemi, Z., Arnaud, C., Cook, K., Steltmann, S. J., & Tomaszewski, C. (2026). The effect of dance movement therapy on traumatized refugee women – a clinical controlled trial. BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies, 26(1), Article 277. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12906-026-05299-1

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12906-026-05299-1

Keywords: dance movement therapy, refugee women, PTSD, trauma, stress, depression, anxiety, creative arts therapies, RHS-15, clinical controlled trial, mental health, cultural adaptation

The study was led by Saeed M. Alghamdi of Umm Al-Qura University, together with collaborators spanning respiratory care programs across Saudi Arabia and the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London. The team set out to explore perceptions regarding the use of traditional Saudi singing and dancing as a method to promote general and respiratory health. Their rationale rests on a simple physiological observation: singing, like breathing, demands precise breath control and recruits many of the same anatomical structures that respiratory therapists target in pulmonary rehabilitation, including the diaphragm, intercostal muscles, and the muscles of the upper airway.

Singing is, at its core, the production of musical tones with the voice, and it requires the coordinated regulation of inhalation, phonation, and controlled exhalation. When people sing sustained phrases, they typically deepen their tidal volume, slow their respiratory rate, and increase minute ventilation efficiency, mirroring techniques used in formal breathing retraining. Dancing adds an aerobic dimension, elevating heart rate and ventilatory demand while building endurance in the muscles of respiration. The concept of Singing for Lung Health, often abbreviated SLH in the respiratory therapy literature, has gained traction in recent years as a structured intervention for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma, and previous research suggests that singing and dancing can improve multiple aspects of health in both healthy individuals and those with respiratory conditions.

To test whether these ideas resonate within a Saudi cultural context, the researchers conducted an observational, cross-sectional survey in the Makkah region. The questionnaire combined closed-ended questions, which yielded quantitative data summarized as frequencies and percentages, with open-ended questions designed to surface the key barriers that might prevent people from engaging in traditional performance practices. Ethical approval was obtained from Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah, and the study was conducted in compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki, with all participants providing informed consent before completing the survey.

The results paint a picture of a population already deeply engaged with these traditions and broadly optimistic about their health value. Of the 273 participants, 153, or 56.0 percent, were female, the majority were aged 21 to 41 years, and 88 participants, representing 32.2 percent, reported having chronic respiratory diseases. Among all respondents, 203 people, or 74.4 percent, reported engaging in Saudi traditional singing and dancing. Within this engaged group, 120 participants, or 59.1 percent, believed that traditional singing and dancing had a positive impact on general health, while 93, or 45.8 percent, agreed that these practices are potentially improving lung health.

One of the most compelling findings was the relationship between active participation and perceived benefit. Participants who actively engaged in traditional singing and dancing were significantly more likely to perceive associated health benefits compared to those who did not, with differences reaching statistical significance at p less than 0.001. This pattern held even though the study could not establish causation; it nevertheless suggests that firsthand experience of the breath work and physical exertion involved in traditional performance may shape how people understand its health potential.

Age emerged as a significant factor in engagement. The association was statistically significant, with a chi-square value of 6.20, p equal to 0.045, and a Cramer’s V of 0.151, indicating a modest but measurable effect. Engagement was highest among participants aged 20 years and under, at 85.3 percent, followed by those aged over 41 years at 75.8 percent, and lowest among those aged 21 to 41 years at 69.8 percent. The authors suggest this pattern may reflect the central role of traditional performance in youth gatherings and older community celebrations, while working-age adults may face time constraints that limit participation.

Gender shaped the barrier landscape in a notable way. Female participants were significantly more likely than males to report a lack of community support as a barrier to practicing traditional singing and dancing, a difference that reached statistical significance at p equal to 0.004. No statistically significant gender differences were observed for other perceived barriers. This finding carries practical weight for any future health promotion program: interventions built around traditional performance would need to address social support structures, particularly for women, if they hope to achieve broad participation across the population.

The study’s authors are careful to frame their findings as perceptual rather than clinical. The survey measured what people in Makkah believe about the health effects of singing and dancing, not objective changes in lung function, exercise capacity, or quality of life. Nonetheless, the conclusion points clearly toward the next step: further research assessing the influence of singing and dancing on clinically relevant parameters would be useful. Such studies could measure forced expiratory volume, respiratory muscle strength, six-minute walk distance, and validated quality-of-life instruments before and after structured programs of traditional performance, providing the evidence base needed to move from cultural intuition to clinical recommendation.

If future trials confirm measurable respiratory benefits, the implications could extend well beyond Saudi Arabia. Culturally grounded interventions often outperform generic health messaging because they arrive wrapped in meaning, identity, and joy rather than obligation. Traditional Saudi singing and dancing, practiced for thousands of years in religious ceremonies, social gatherings, and artistic performances, may offer exactly that kind of vehicle: a form of pulmonary rehabilitation that people already love, passed down through generations, waiting to be recognized as medicine hiding in plain sight. The research was funded by Umm Al-Qura University under grant number 26UQU4340488GSSR02, and the study was registered with the Open Science Framework at 10.17605/OSF.IO/867ME.

Subject of Research: Perceptions of traditional Saudi singing and dancing as a means of promoting general and respiratory health in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.

Article Title: The potential use of traditional singing and dancing for respiratory health promotion in Saudi Arabia: an observational study

Article References: Alghamdi, S. M., Kabrah, S. M., Alhawsawi, H. B., Almushayt, B. S., Bajudah, R. K., Abu Dark, R. M., Aldhahir, A. M., Alsulayyim, A. S., Alasimi, A. H., Philip, K. E., Alzahrani, H. A., Alhindi, A. O., Alhindi, A. O., Alasmari, A. M., Alahmadi, F. H., Alqarni, A. A., & Alqahtani, J. S. (2026). The potential use of traditional singing and dancing for respiratory health promotion in Saudi Arabia: an observational study. BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12906-026-05581-2

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12906-026-05581-2

Keywords: Saudi Arabia, traditional singing, traditional dancing, respiratory health, health promotion, singing for lung health, respiratory therapy, cultural practices, quality of life, chronic respiratory disease, cross-sectional survey, dance movement therapy