Effects of a 10-week creative dance intervention on social-emotional competence in preschool children: A preliminary cluster-randomized trial

Background Effective interventions to enhance social-emotional competence in typically developing preschoolers remain scarce, particularly those aligning with young children's natural, embodied modes of learning. Objective To examine the effects of a 10-week Creative Dance intervention on social-emotional competence in preschool children in a preliminary cluster-randomized trial design. Methods Four kindergarten classes were randomly allocated to a Creative Dance group ( n = 62) receiving two 30–40 min sessions weekly for 10 weeks, or a control group ( n = 59) continuing usual activities. Class teachers rated children's temper control, social assertiveness, and anxiety control using the Children's Emotional Adjustment Scale (CEAS-P) at baseline and post-intervention. Results Of 121 randomized children, 115 were included in the analysis. At the individual-level, exploratory analyses showed between-group differences in change of 15.22 (95% CI : 11.60, 18.84) for the total CEAS-P score and ranging from 3.90 to 6.16 for the three subscales. A descriptive class-level analysis was consistent with these patterns, with both EG classes showing improvement while neither CG class showed meaningful change. However, formal inference is limited by the small number of clusters (k = 4). Conclusion These findings provide preliminary, hypothesis-generating evidence that a 10-week Creative Dance programme may be associated with improvements in preschool children's social-emotional competence. The descriptive class-level pattern was consistent with this interpretation, but confirmatory conclusions cannot be drawn from this small preliminary cluster-randomized trial.