Referencing the body for mood state regulation: an examination of stress management using Dohsa-hou as a primary prevention program for nurses

Abstract

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. AbstractObjectives: Stress management for human service professionals remains an international issue. Methods: We conducted a primary prevention program using Dohsa-hou designed to provide early-career nurses with an understanding of stress and physical relaxation skills that can be utilized to reduce negative and increase positive mood states. Results: A total of 56 nurses working at a general hospital in Japan participated in the program. As a result, negative mood states were significantly reduced at post-test from the intervention. Also, vigor as a positive mood state showed a marginal increase compared to pre-test. These findings were largely consistent with a previous study implementing Dohsa-hou movement tasks in a stress management program. Conclusions: Although there were some limitations, this study suggested that the stress management program using Dohsa-hou may be a useful approach for preventing burnout by promoting mood state regulation for nurses.

Experimental Manipulation of Guided Attention to the Shoulder Movement Task in Clinical Dohsa-hou Induces Shifts in the Reactive Mode and Indicates Flexible Cognitive Control Performance

“… Haramaki et al (2019) also observed an in vivo exposure-based ability for long-term hemodialysis patients to address issues with self-regulatory fatigue from chronic pain by using Dohsa-hou tasks. Furthermore, in stress management applications of Dohsa-hou, Abe et al (2019) observed changes in mood states, especially vigor, in a sample of nurses at-risk for burnout. The role of movement is central to this attentional form of self-regulation and might extend to meditative movement practices with similar elements (e.g., qigong, yoga, or tai chi in applied contexts of rehabilitation or behavioral change).…”

“…The Japanese psychotherapy known as Dohsa-hou (“body movement method”) has shown indicators of effectiveness in clinical settings and community applications. The growing evidence base suggests that the approach confers regulation over pain toward daily life functioning ( Haramaki et al, 2019 ), relaxation-based coping with mood states as a form of stress management ( Abe et al, 2019 ; Kuwashima and Yoshikawa, 2020 ), and body-mediated communication between clients and therapists ( Fujino, 2017 ; Kawano and Fujino, 2021 ). Hypothesis formation has advanced about the role of cognition from experiments on the postural control of elderly adults ( Adachi, 2015 ) and gains in interoceptive and proprioceptive awareness in Dohsa-hou applications toward understanding its fit with toolboxes of meditative movement ( Kabir et al, 2019 ).…”

“…The study observed effectiveness in favor of Dohsa-hou for improving levels of subjective happiness and hope with university students ( Pour Kamali et al, 2018 ). Across findings in clinical and community settings, Dohsa-hou especially leverages the experience of motor resonance as a form of self-control and the use of the movement tasks for deliberately enacted physical relaxation as behavioral activation, which contributes to the regulation of daily life functioning ( Haramaki et al, 2019 ), and the management of stress responses ( Abe et al, 2019 ; Kuwashima and Yoshikawa, 2020 ).…”

“…Crucially, the tasks scaffold into increasingly more expansive sections of the body and increasing levels of body awareness, and the experience of relaxation or body control reciprocally leads to trust in the therapeutic alliance, as verbal instructions and feedback are concurrent with the repertoire of movement tasks in Dohsa-hou clinical practice ( Takeuchi and Takemoto, 2017 ). Fujino (2012) underscored the role of feedback from the therapist during the performance of movement tasks in Dohsa-hou as the first step in the positive psychological process, and the movement tasks themselves have shown flexible application into brief session interventions ( Abe et al, 2019 ; Kuwashima and Yoshikawa, 2020 ).…”

Dohsa‐hou for unexplained regression in Down syndrome in a 19‐year‐old man: A case report

“…It induces changes in a patient's experience through movements and physical interactions, even in individuals with severe intellectual and multiple disabilities 17,18 . Dohsa‐hou has also been used both as a treatment for psychological symptoms and a preventive measure for mental distress 18–20 . Although its effectiveness has not been well investigated in interventional studies, such as clinical trials, this approach has been clinically used in Asian countries for people with mental illness and emotional disorders 16,18,21,22 …”