Development, Execution and Acceptance of a Manualized Dance/Movement Therapy Treatment Protocol for the Clinical Trial in the Treatment of Negative Symptoms and Psychosocial Functioning in Schizophrenia

The use of manual-based interventions that aim to improve outcomes and that allow for replication become a research standard in recent years. Currently, the dance/movement therapy English language literature contains few if any works on specific guidelines or models to help researchers conceptualize, develop, pilot, revise and execute treatment protocols. Therefore, this manuscript describes in detail the development of manualized dance/movement therapy treatment protocol for a clinical trial on the negative symptoms and psychosocial functioning in individuals with schizophrenia. It provides a comprehensive description of the step-by-step process of the creation and implementation of the intervention manual. As such it offers a guideline to help researchers conceptualize, develop, pilot, revise and execute the treatment protocol. Feasibility and acceptance findings are included. Discussion of the importance of the use of manualized treatment protocols in dance/movement therapy research and their limitations follows.