Dita Federman

University of Haifa | haifa · School of the arts therapies

Emotion recognition is an important developmental achievement in early childhood. Grounded in theoretical concepts of family systems theory and the spillover effect, the goal of the current study was to examine whether prenatal spousal support predicts toddler emotion recognition at 24 months, and whether this association is mediated by parental em...

Humans have used dance as a healing art since the beginning of human history, but dance therapy has only begun to be recognized as a formal profession since the mid-1940s. At that time, dancers living in the USA began using dance as a therapeutic medium in health-care settings. Since then, the field has expanded across the world, with dance therapi...

Parkinson’s is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by motor and non-motor symptoms which are strongly associated with patients’ quality of life, affecting social skills and support. It strikes not only the motor abilities but may harm cognitive and emotional functioning. For the past 15 years, contemporary dance has been employed as an interv...

During the postpartum period, the bond with the infant is starting to take shape, as the emotional world of the mother is being formed by the bodily experiences. The current study uses the mother’s point of view to describe how psycho-physical experiences shape the process of becoming a mother. A qualitative-phenomenological approach was taken, and...

Infant care engages the body, a fact that affects both the infant’s development and the mother-infant relationship. This study details the subjective experience of mothers during the postpartum period regarding the availability of their body knowledge in parenting and its effect on the mother’s performance and her relationship with her baby. Using...

This study examined the relationship between extraversion, the ability to identify emotions in observed movement and quality of life (QoL), among women with and without fibromyalgia (FM). The sample was 50 adult women. Participants were asked to fill out Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, NEO Five Factor Inventory, Short Form 36 Health Survey, Toro...

Trauma is manifested through the body in different ways, from arousal to freezing, or cessation of movement. Verbal expressions of traumatic experience have long been studied; however, studies of nonverbal responses are scarce. The current paper presents the Movement Assessment and Treatment Manual for Trauma (MAMT). The suggested intervention is b...

This study aimed to investigate to what extent the self-figure drawings of young adult Thais differ from the self-figure drawings of a matched Israeli group. The convenience sample consisted of 24 participants; 12 Israelis and 12 Thais were asked to draw themselves with a pencil on a sheet of A4 paper and add a narrative to the drawing. In addition...

The objective of this study was to examine whether ‘attentive movement’, is an effective method for treating depression. A quantitative research methodology design was used. Fifty participants took part in attentive movement group therapy sessions once a week for 12 weeks. All completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and a demographic question...

Over the last decades, a growing body of research has deepened the understanding of the complexity of traumatic events and their consequences. While verbal expressions of traumatic experience have long been studied, studies of nonverbal responses are scarce. The present study explored bodily movements while people recount traumatic memories. The co...

The present study explores the interaction between two narrative worlds of substance: verbal life stories and body movement expressions among Holocaust survivors. A narrative phenomenology approach was used to investigate the way in which people organize their lives, granting them meaning through their life stories and narratives. Sixteen Holocaust...

The present study investigates changes in kinaesthetic ability among Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) trainees, as compared to Art Therapy trainees. A field study was conducted using a quasi-experimental pre-post group design. Participants were 42 graduate students. Kinaesthetic ability was evaluated using a table of movement dimensions, based on Laban...

This study investigates the relationship between change in kinesthetic ability and the development of empathy in a group of Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) trainees. Art Therapy and Social Science students served as comparison groups. A field study was conducted using a quasi-experimental pre-post control group design. Participants were 62 graduate st...

The present study investigates the relationship between change in kinaesthetic ability and change in openness to experience among Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) trainees, compared with Art Therapy and Social Science students. A field study was conducted using a quasi-experimental pre–post control group design. Participants were 62 graduate students....