{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T16:14:12Z","timestamp":1790007252610,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,21]],"date-time":"2025-03-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1742515200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Purpose: Previous studies have shown that dancing can improve well-being, but few studies have looked at ballroom dancing. The present pilot study focuses on ballroom dancing and aims to investigate its effect on the physical, psychological, and mental well-being of cancer patients. Owing to COVID-19, face-to-face courses had to be replaced by online courses to continue the intervention and maintain learning progress; after the end of the pandemic, the courses could occur on site again when possible. Methods: For this cohort study, a total of 51 participants (38 patients and 12 healthy partners, no data for 1; 34 women and 9 men, no data for 8) participated. There were no limitations regarding the type of cancer, treatment, or comorbidities. It was an open access offering; participants were recruited through the newspaper and support groups. Using an anonymous standardized questionnaire and a numeric rating scale (NRS) ranging from 1 to 10, the participants were asked to rate their mental, physical, and psychological well-being at defined time points over one week. No side effects were registered and the teaching methods appeared to be practicable for the patients. Results: The pilot study showed an improvement in well-being after ballroom dancing. The results for physical, psychological, and mental well-being were significant (p &lt; 0.0001). On average, men reported better scores, and all improvements were significant for both men and women. Overall, the healthy partners rated their well-being slightly better on average than the patients. A mixed-model analysis with repeated measurements in SAS was used to evaluate significant results (p &lt; 0.05). Conclusion: Our data show that ballroom dancing for cancer patients has a positive effect on their well-being, even though their well-being returns to baseline levels within the following days. Positive effects were also demonstrated for participating healthy partners.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph22040470","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,24]],"date-time":"2025-03-24T13:48:20Z","timestamp":1742824100000},"page":"470","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Effect of Ballroom Dancing on the Physical, Psychological, and Mental Well-Being of Oncological Patients: A Pilot Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"22","author":[{"given":"Rebecca","family":"Schild","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Klinik f\u00fcr Innere Medizin II, Universit\u00e4tsklinikum Jena, Am Klinikum 1, 07747 Jena, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1584-0056","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Martin","family":"Scharpenberg","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Kompetenzzentrum f\u00fcr Klinische Studien Bremen, Fachbereich 3, Mathematik und Informatik, Hochschule Bremen, 28358 Bremen, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ivonne","family":"Rudolph","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Waldburg-Zeil Kliniken, Rehabilitationsklinik Bad Salzelmen, Therapie\/Leiterin Ambulante TherapieBadepark 5, 39218 Sch\u00f6nebeck, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7242-5727","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jens","family":"B\u00fcntzel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Klinik f\u00fcr HNO-Erkrankungen, Kopf-Hals-Chirurgie, Interdisziplin\u00e4re Palliativstation, S\u00fcdharzklinikum, Robert-Koch-Stra\u00dfe 39, 99734 Nordhausen, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4931-568X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jutta","family":"Huebner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Klinik f\u00fcr Innere Medizin II, Universit\u00e4tsklinikum Jena, Am Klinikum 1, 07747 Jena, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9","DOI":"10.1016\/j.clon.2014.09.007","article-title":"Patients\u2019 perceptions of health-related quality of life during and after adjuvant radiotherapy for T1N0M0 breast cancer","volume":"27","author":"Sundaresan","year":"2015","journal-title":"Clin. 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