Abstract Background Clinical outcomes for patients with mental disorders vary significantly in community-based mental health care. While some patients experience short-term symptom relief, approximately 30% continue to experience persistent psychological symptoms or social dysfunction for months to years. Identifying social behavioral and neurophysiological indicators that can predict early deterioration of mental health is crucial for optimizing community interventions. Insufficient social support and low group participation are key factors contributing to functional limitations in patients with mental disorders. Dance sports, as an active intervention combining physical activity and social interaction, can improve mood regulation and social adaptation through rhythm, physical coordination, and group communication. Therefore, this study introduces structured dance sports training into routine community mental health care to explore its impact on patients’ psychological symptoms, social function, and quality of life, providing empirical evidence for early non-pharmacological interventions in community-based mental health care. Methods This study recruited 120 adults (18 ~ 55 years old) with mild to moderate mental disorders from two community health service centers and randomly assigned them to an experimental group (n = 60) and a control group (n = 60). The experimental group received 12 weeks of structured ballroom dance training, three times a week for 60 minutes each time, including basic movements of ballroom and Latin dances, rhythm training, and group interaction. The control group maintained routine psychological care and health education activities. The primary assessment endpoints included the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) and the Social Functioning Scale (SFS). The scales were assessed at baseline (T0), mid-week 6 (T1), and end of week 12 (T2). Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA and Cohen’s effect size to assess between-group and within-group variations. Results After the intervention, the total SCL-90 score in the experimental group decreased from 75.4 ± 12.3 at baseline to 58.7 ± 10.1 at T2 (p.001, d = 1.45), with the most significant decreases in anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive factors (all p.01), while the control group showed no significant change (baseline is 74.2 ± 11.7, T2 is 71.5 ± 12.0, p=.12). The SFS score showed an improvement in social interaction ability in the experimental group from 55.6 ± 10.2 to 68.4 ± 9.7 (p.001, d = 1.22), with significant improvements in participation and social role fulfillment, while the control group showed no significant change (p=.15). Mid-term T1 assessment showed a significant downward trend in psychological symptoms in the experimental group, indicating that the dance-sports intervention can produce positive effects in the short term. Discussion Research indicates that integrating dance-ball movement into community mental health care can significantly improve psychological symptoms, quality of life, and social functioning. Its mechanisms of action include not only neurophysiological activation but also enhancement of social interaction, group support, and self-identity. Dance-ball intervention shows results in the short term and can be promoted and applied as a sustainable activity model for community mental health care. Future research can further explore different dance types, intervention frequencies, and long-term maintenance effects to optimize personalized community intervention programs and improve patients’ overall life adaptability.
Faping Zhang (Sun,) studied this question.