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Review study: the dance as a means of improving body health and quality of life cancer patient (???masterΤhesis???)

Ιωαννίδης, Βασίλειος-Ιωσήφ/ Ioannidis, Vasilios-Iosif

The purpose of this research was through the systematic review of scientific research to establish the effects of systematic participation in organized dance activities, in patients who disease from various types of cancer, in their physical health and quality of life. For the needs of the research, the method of bibl iographic review was followed. Scientific articles and conference proceedings of the last decade were reviewed, in electronic databases : PubMed, Scopus, Medical, Research Gate, Google Scholar as well as at the National Documentation Center combining keywor ds of the central axes of the issue: "Cancer", "dance", traditional, Latin, ball room, Zumba, belly dance, Pilates, tai chi, "physical health", "quality of life" and the combination of these. From the review , emerged 27 publications, of which 3 were reject ed. The indexing of the researches revealed a) dance programs were applied to all types of cancer, with breast cancer being the most commo n (1 3 ), b) belly, social, Latin and traditional dance, we re the types of dance that used in the intervention programs and c) positive effects were observed on both physical and mental health of the participants. In terms of physical health, there was an improvement in physical function, strength, lower limb mobility and endurance, resulting in reduced physical fatigue and improved body image, self esteem, quality of life and overall psychological well being. The results showed that the participation of cancer patients in dance programs of any kind has a positive effect on both their physical and mental health.