Assessment of dance movement therapy outcomes: a preliminary proposal

Context: Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) is a therapeutic modality that utilizes movement to promote holistic well-being. Current DMT assessment methods rely heavily on the subjective judgment of the DMT professional. Objective: Our research aims to develop a framework composed of different components with specific functionalities that can be integrated with the DMT modality to improve the objectivity and efficiency of DMT evaluations. Method: The DMT framework consists of an experimental protocol for data collection and a reference-supporting architecture that includes components for video analysis, physiological signal management, and evaluation tools. Artificial Intelligence (AI) based human pose estimation techniques are also employed to derive the DMT participants’ poses during the DMT sessions for more reliable movement analysis. Results: Our preliminary results consist of demonstrating the effectiveness of the AI-based pose estimation tool, YOLO-NAS-Pose, in accurately detecting participants’ poses. Conclusion: The proposed framework offers a promising approach to improving DMT practices by integrating and leveraging AI-based human pose estimation to evaluate participants’ movement in the DMT setting objectively. Future research will focus on refining the framework and developing user-friendly tools for widespread adoption in real DMT contexts.