Dance and well-being
honoring Caroline Plummer
pp. 293-306
in: Karen Bond (ed), Dance and the quality of life, Berlin, Springer, 2019Abstract
This chapter provides a glimpse of the experience of a community health registered nurse connecting her passion for the healing power of indigenous music and dance with community health nursing. As the recipient of the 2015 Caroline Plummer Community Dance Fellowship at the University of Otago New Zealand, the researcher explored the responses of postpartum mothers and their families to music and dance. The goal of the Maternal-Child Community Dance Project was to investigate the role of community dance in the wellbeing of new mothers and their babies. The study employed a mixed-method research methodology incorporating quantitative and qualitative methods. The project was framed in Māori concepts of healing, western integrative medicine theory, and community nursing methodology. Data sources included interviews, pre- and post-partum qualitative and quantitative assessments, and field observations.