Effect of imagery intervention on stress level in ballroom dancing competition

Abstract

To examine effect of imagery intervention on stress level in ballroom dancing competition. Subjects consisted of 48 competitive ballroom dancers (24 male, 24 female) who participated in 38th National dance sport championships (Trung Games). Subjects were randomized into two groups: intervention group (imagery training with self-video modeling of high level athletes competition for 6 weeks, 3 times/week) and control group. Subjects’ saliva was collected for cortisol and alpha-amylase analysis. Data was statistically analyzed at the 0.05 level of significance. The significant decrease of baseline value of salivary cortisol was only observed in trained-subjects whereas baseline value of salivary alpha-amylase trended to be lower in trained-subjects. However, there was no significant difference of cortisol and alpha-amylase level between groups on competition day. Self-report of CSAI-2R questionnaire demonstrated that somatic anxiety, cognitive anxiety and self-confidence of intervention group were significantly improved when compared to control group on post-test day. On competition day, the cognitive anxiety in trained-subjects was lower than the cognitive anxiety in untrained-subjects significantly. Moreover, the results showed significant dance performance improvement of all subscales after six weeks training in intervention group. In addition, four out of five subscales of sport imagery usage were also improved. In conclusion, six-week imagery training benefit ballroom dance athletes by decreasing stress level and state anxiety, and increasing self-confidence, dance performance and imagery use. The intensity, duration and detail of imagery intervention might have to be developed for competitive effects.