Introduction Given the unprecedented increase of long-term care and aging in place demand, informal caregivers are exposed to higher levels of stress (the caregiver’s burden) with negative repercussions on their physical and mental health and additional human and economic costs for the National Health Systems. The DanceCARE method offers an innovative and blended intervention based on a body–mind approach that was co-designed by dance-movement therapists, body–mind experts and aging care researchers to alleviate the burden on informal caregivers of older people. The purpose of the paper is to describe the detailed procedure of the pilot study. Method This mixed-methods pilot study aims to measure the impact of the original DanceCARE intervention on the perceived burden and depression levels of 90 informal and semi-formal caregivers living in Greece, Italy and Spain, and the quality of life of older care receivers. Validated psychometric scales, qualitative interviews, and art-based/embodied research methodologies were adopted. Results The pilot study will be the first implementation of the DanceCARE intervention, aiming to investigate the feasibility and preliminary effects of the method. This article therefore illustrates the research protocol starting from the main research question and explains the target groups, the pre and post-pilot research phases, the tools that will be used and the resources to employ, including human resources, the time-lines and the methodologies to use uniformly in Italy, Greece, and Spain. Discussion The novelty of DanceCARE lies in the body–mind intervention paired with a multi-component assessment methodology that can provide evidence of the efficacy of body–mind interventions that are still under-investigated.
Galassi et al. (2026) studied this question.