Greek traditional dances and quality of old people's life

Summary 

The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of Greek traditional dances on the improvement of old people's quality of life. A hundred and eleven subjects (75 women and 36 men) 60–91 years old, were divided into an experimental group (n=76) which participated in Greek traditional dances and a control group (n=35) which was discussing and watching television, both for 1h. The Subjective Exercise Experiences Scale [McAuley, E., Courneya, K., 1994. The Subjective Exercise Experiences Scale (SEES): development and preliminary validation. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 16, 163–177] was used to measure positive well-being, psychological distress, and fatigue and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory [Spielberger, C.D., Gorsuch, R., Lushene, R., 1970. Manual for the State-trait Anxiety Inventory. Consulting Psychologists, Palo Alto] to measure state and trait anxiety respectively. Correlational analyses, between the various measures taken postdance, showed that the overall set of relations between the SEES subscales and the SAI-Y1 subscale supports the criterion-related validity of this measure of exercise-induced psychological responses. The independent groups t-tests showed that the control group in comparison to experimental group, at rest as well as on the second measurement, has significantly higher levels of state anxiety (t=−4.45, p<0.001 & t=−6.56, p<0.001), psychological distress (t=−4.30, p<0.001 & t=−5.46, p<0.001), and fatigue (t=−3.16, p<0.01 & t=−3.46, p<0.001), while it has significantly lower levels of positive well-being (t=4.23, p<0.001 & t=6.90, p<0.001). After dancing approximately 63% of maximum heart rate of experimental group was activated, while from paired t-tests significant decreases in state anxiety (t=5.02, p<0.001) and psychological distress (t=3.14, p<0.01) were observed, as well as significant increases in positive well-being (t=−4.44, p<0.001) and fatigue (t=−2.15, p<0.05). On the other hand, no significant difference in control group was observed. Consequently, Greek traditional dances may be used as a functional psycho-physical activity, to produce both physical and mental benefits for elderly individuals.

Keywords: Elderly, Aerobic exercise, Psychosomatic responses, Mood state, State anxiety