Community Dance Program (CDP) for Older Adults

NCT05203848 | Completed DMC

• 1 other identifier: NUS-IRB-2020-808
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 54
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Objectives: The primary objective of the proposed project is to develop and evaluate a Community Dance Program (CDP) for community-dwelling older adults, which is aimed at promoting physical strength, balance, cognition, mental and psycho-social well-being of the older adults. A distinctive feature of our project is that a team of researchers across disciplines and community partners will collaborate to develop the program and bring benefits to the older adults living in the community.

Conditions

Healthy Aging

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (11)

• Physical health: Blood pressure

  Blood pressure readings will be measured in units of millimeters of mercury (mmHg). Both systolic and diastolic blood pressure values will be recorded before versus after the research intervention to investigate for any significant changes.

  3 months

• Physical health: Body Mass Index (BMI)

  BMI was obtained from each participant by measuring his/her height in units of meters and weight in units of kilograms, followed by this formula: kg/m\^2. BMI values will be recorded before versus after the research intervention to investigate for any significant changes.

  3 months

• Physical health: Waist and hip circumferences

  Waist and hip circumferences of each participant will be obtained in units of centimeters (cm). These values will be recorded before versus after the research intervention to investigate for any significant changes.

  3 months

• Physical health: Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB)

  SPPB is a comprehensive instrument that can be used to measure balance, mobility, and muscle strength in older adults. It consists of balance tests (i.e., side-by-side stand, semi-tandem stand, tandem stand), gait speed tests, and chair stand tests. All values will be recorded in units of seconds and consolidated into the corresponding sum of scores upon successful completion of each test. Higher SPPB scores indicate greater physical capabilities.

  3 months

• Psychosocial health: Subjective Happiness Scale

  Subjective Happiness Scale using a "subjectivist" approach to the assessment of happiness, a 4-item measure of global subjective happiness was developed and validated in 14 studies with a total of 2732 participants (Lyubomirsky \& Lepper,1999). A 7-point Likert scale (1 = less happy to 7 = more happy) was used, with higher scores indicating higher subjective happiness.

  3 months

• Cognitive health: Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)

  MoCA was designed as a screening instrument for mild cognitive dysfunction. It assesses various cognitive domains including attention, concentration, executive function, memory, language, visuospatial, and arithmetic skills. The total possible score is 30 points, with the cutoff score of this research study being 16 points. Participants who scored below 16 points will not be included in the research study. A lower MoCA score indicates greater cognitive dysfunction.

  3 months

• Cognitive health: Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT)

  SDMT is a screening measure for cerebral dysfunction in adults. A coding key is presented consisting of nine abstract symbols, each paired with a number. The participant is required to scan through the coding key and write down the number corresponding to each symbol, as rapidly as possible. The number of correct answers within the 90-second interval is recorded. The maximum score is 110, with lower scores suggesting cerebral dysfunction.

  3 months

• Cognitive health: The Washington University Dementia Screening Test (AD8)

  This scale is also known as "Eight-item Interview to Differentiate Aging and Dementia". The participant was asked to rate changes in his/her ability for each of the items, without attributing causability. The final score is computed by consolidating the sum of the items marked with a change due to cognitive problems, with higher scores indicating higher impairment in cognition.

  3 months

• Quality of Life: WHOQOL-AGE

  WHOQOL-AGE is a self-reported questionnaire that was designed specifically to measure quality of life (QoL) in the older adult population (Caballero et al., 2013). It consists of 13 items which are selected from the other versions of WHOQOL instruments (5 items from WHOQOL-OLD and 8 items from EUROHIS-QOL). The items were assessed on a five-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (very dissatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied), with higher scores suggesting higher QoL. WHOQOL-AGE has been evaluated and has shown good reliability and validity (Santos et al., 2018).

  3 months

• Physical health: DNA Methylation (DNAm) Testing

  DNA Methylation (DNAm) Testing was conducted by collecting the participants' saliva into a 5 mL polypropylene tube. The participants were instructed to let saliva collect in their mouth and gently push the saliva into a short section of common drinking straw into the tube. Saliva samples were aliquoted into 2 mL polypropylene cryovials, with colour coded lids. De-identified samples will be stored at -80 degrees C. De-identified saliva samples were sent to Muhdo Health Pte Ltd, a UK-based epigenetics testing company for DNA extraction and whole epigenome sequencing, in which the results were shared to the research team.

  3 months

• Physical health: MOXY Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) Measurement of muscle oxygenation

  MOXY Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) Measurement of muscle oxygenation was conducted by attaching a near-infrared spectroscopy probe (Moxy Monitor) on the belly of the vastus lateralis (quadriceps) muscle, midway between the lateral epicondyle and greater trochanter of the femur (DeLorey et al., 2004). This was performed to measure relative muscle oxygenation level before, during contraction, and for up to 1 hour post-exercise. The device measured muscle O2 saturation (SmO2) every 2 seconds throughout the trial, and has been validated and described in detail in a study by Crum et al. (2017). For the present study, the probe was placed on the participant's quadriceps muscle during the SPPB.

  3 months

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Intergenerational communication

  3 months

• Social support

  3 months

• Sociodemographic data

  3 months

Study Arms (2)

Dance program intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

The community dance program (CDP) will be developed to promote older adults' physical and mental well-being through dancing. The contents of the program are developed based on the literature review (Rossberg-Gempton \& Poole, 2008). The CDP will be delivered over a period of 8 weeks.

Procedure: Community Dance Intervention

Control group

PLACEBO COMPARATOR

There will be no dance intervention among control group participants.

Other: Control group

Interventions

Community Dance Intervention PROCEDURE

The main dance instructor for the CDP is Yarra Ileto, who is the Artistic Director for NUS Dance Synergy. Yarra was trained at LASALLE College of the Arts, graduating with a First Class BA (Hons) Dance in 2008. Also, she has experience with crafting and conducting Community Dance Programs (CDP) for Seniors. Yarra will be developing the dance lesson plan and also training selected students from NUS Dance Synergy to guide the seniors during the dance sessions. Older adults will learn and practice the basic steps together for the first few weeks. Then, the student dance instructors will start teaching the dance formation. During each session, participants will need to warm up first to prevent injuries before practicing dance steps. Small group practicing is reserved for older adults to interact with each other. All the participants will do relaxation exercises before ending the session to cool down their bodies and release muscle tensions.

Dance program intervention

Control group OTHER

Control group

Control group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 55 Years - 85 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Aged 55 to 85
• Able to understand and communicate in either English or Mandarin
• Able to give consent to participate (have sufficient mental capacity as assessed by the MoCA, with a score of 16 and above)
• Lives within the community setting
• Able to ambulate with minimal assistance
• Able to commit a total of 8 hours over the 8-week period dancing program

You may not qualify if:

• Medical conditions which result in limitation of dancing
• Older adults with compromised balance and mobility (those who obtained a score of \< 5 on the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB)
• Severe cognitive or psychiatric disorders
• Severe hearing or vision impairments
• Older adults from the control group who also participate in any other dance group during the intervention period
• Older adults who are uncomfortable with video-recording of the dance sessions

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National University of Singapore: lead
• Lions Befrienders: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

National University of Singapore

Singapore, Singapore, 117599, Singapore

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Wu XV, Tam WSW, Yap XY, Zhang J, Mok WYJ, Lim ZX, Goh J. Intergenerational approach of community dance program for older adults in singapore: a feasibility cluster-controlled trial. BMC Geriatr. 2025 Dec 2;26(1):17. doi: 10.1186/s12877-025-06796-7.

  PMID: 41327006 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Interventions

Control Groups

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Epidemiologic Research Design; Epidemiologic Methods; Investigative Techniques; Research Design; Methods

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 13, 2021
• First Posted: January 24, 2022
• Study Start: September 9, 2021
• Primary Completion: December 21, 2022
• Study Completion: December 31, 2022
• Last Updated: October 30, 2024

Record last verified: 2022-01

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

SG (1)