What is self-harm in dance? A conceptualisation of UK dance teachers’ perceptions of self-harm

Dance teachers have reported a rise in the number of dance students who self-harm, requesting guidance to effectively support those at risk. Nonetheless, limited research has investigated self-harm in the context of dance education. Recognising that little is known about how self-harm is conceptualised in this setting, this study investigated dance teachers’ conceptualisations of self-harm by conducting semi-structured interviews with seven dance educators in the United Kingdom. The exploratory design and analysis were informed by patient and public involvement with individuals with lived experience of mental health difficulties and dance education. Using reflexive thematic analysis, we generated three themes: (a) “Self-harm as more than just cutting”, (b) “Self-harm as a coping mechanism”, and (c) “The relationship between dance and self-harm”. Dance teachers perceived self-harm as the act of hurting oneself or engaging in an action that is physically or psychologically harmful to oneself. Their concerns covered a broad range of issues, including physical self-injury (e.g., cutting), mental harm (e.g., self-deprecating thoughts) and disordered eating. Self-harm was understood as aiding dance students to deal with various intrapersonal (e.g., feelings of low self-worth) and interpersonal (e.g., relational tensions with family or peers) stressors. Although dance participation was seen as beneficial for young people who self-harm, dance-specific stressors have the potential to increase risk in already vulnerable students. Self-harm guidance for dance teachers needs to adopt dance-informed broad conceptualisations of self-harm that include physical injury, mental harm and eating disorders to effectively target dance teachers’ concerns.