Traditional African Healing Ceremony in a U.S. Population

Pre-agricultural societies almost universally used healing ceremonies that involved reverence, rhythm and dance in the presence of a healer. It is believed that we are "wired" for such experiences and they foster an integrative mode of consciousness similar to that of mindfulness based stress reduction, which has been shown to have therapeutic effects in a variety of conditions. Collaborator Ava Lavonne Vinesett of the Duke Dance Program has developed a healing ceremony based in sub-Saharan African traditions. The investigators plan is to have 25 subjects with a variety of clinical conditions participate in this ceremony. Subjects will then be asked to write a commentary about their experience and to participate in a focus group discussion. It is anticipated that the study will give us some idea of how promising this approach would be and what kinds of patients might benefit. Safety issues are minimal and include the possibility of injury (though the dancing is not strenuous) and psychological distress.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Depression; Cancer; Anxiety; Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Movement to rhythm

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 17
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • North Carolina
    • Durham, North Carolina, United States, 27710
      • Duke University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 25 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age 25 to 65 with one of the diagnoses listed above or with 8 visits to their provider in the last year and with no diagnosis of chronic illness.

Exclusion Criteria:

• physical disability making participation difficult and previous experience with a similar ceremony, for instance while growing up in Africa.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Movement with rhythm; Subjects will move for 1 hour in time to the Congolese rhythm called Zebola.	Behavioral: Movement to rhythm; Movement to rhythm

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Report from each participant as to whether they found the experience positive, neutral or negative.	During the first hour after the intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
written narrative of experience	During the first hour after the intervention

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Encounter group discussion	During the first hour after the intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Duke University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Kenneth Wilson, MD, Duke University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: May 1, 2014
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 5, 2013
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 6, 2013
• First Posted (Estimate): June 10, 2013

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): November 2, 2014
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 31, 2014
• Last Verified: October 1, 2014

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Virus Diseases; Infections; Musculoskeletal Diseases; Muscular Diseases; Neuromuscular Diseases; Encephalomyelitis; Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic
• Other Study ID Numbers: Pro00042492