Dance/Movement Therapy and the Journey of Infertility: a Phenomenological Study Sara Ogawa Columbia College Chicago

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Dance/Movement Therapy and the Journey of Infertility: a Phenomenological Study Sara Ogawa Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago Digital Commons @ Columbia College Chicago Creative Arts Therapies Theses Thesis & Capstone Collection 5-13-2015 Dance/Movement Therapy and the Journey of Infertility: A Phenomenological Study Sara Ogawa Columbia College Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/theses_dmt Part of the Dance Movement Therapy Commons This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. Recommended Citation Ogawa, Sara, "Dance/Movement Therapy and the Journey of Infertility: A Phenomenological Study" (2015). Creative Arts Therapies Theses. 65. https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/theses_dmt/65 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Thesis & Capstone Collection at Digital Commons @ Columbia College Chicago. It has been accepted for inclusion in Creative Arts Therapies Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Columbia College Chicago. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Dance/Movement Therapy and the Journey of Infertility: A Phenomenological Study Sara Ogawa Thesis submitted to the faculty of Columbia College Chicago in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Master of Arts in Department of Creative Arts Therapies Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling Department May 2015 Committee: Susan Imus, MA, BC-DMT, LCPC, GL-CMA Chair, Department of Creative Arts Therapies Laura Downey, MA, BC-DMT, LPC Research Coordinator Shannon Lengerich Suffoletto, MA, BC-DMT, LCPC, GL-CMA, MPAC Research Coordinator & Thesis Advisor Kimberly Rothwell, MA, BC-DMT, LCPC, CADC Reader Abstract The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand the holistic phenomenon of infertility in order to assess the basic needs of women who struggle with infertility and the associated medical treatments. In order to address a comprehensive understanding of the experience of infertility, this study employed a body-mind perspective, which is based on the dance/movement therapy (DMT) principle that “the body and the mind are inseparable” (Levy, 2005, p. 1). Five women, who had experience with infertility, were invited to the study, and each participated in individual verbal and movement interviews. Kvale’s interview analysis (Kvale & Brinkman, 2009) was utilized to analyze verbal data, and the researcher’s kinesthetic empathy elicited by embodiment was employed to understand movement data. Finally, verbal and movement data were synthesized through the choreographic process, and a dance piece was performed as a public presentation of findings. The researcher discovered that infertile women experience the process of disconnection from self and body, which might have been manifested through a body-mind split. Infertile women’s needs included sharing their experiences with others who had similar experiences and reconnecting to self and others. Based on identified needs, potential DMT interventions that can be used for this population are discussed. i Acknowledgements Thank you to those women who participated in this study. I appreciate and admire their courage to show me their vulnerable side and share some of the most sensitive experiences in their lives. It required a tremendous amount of strength for them to be able to come out and share their stories to a complete stranger. This study could not be done without those women’s contributions. Thank you to my dancers who helped me through the process of analysis and presentation. The embodiment process was not easy both physically and emotionally. I appreciate their patience and strength to be able to go through this journey with me. Their insight, body wisdom, and creativity helped me tremendously during the process. Thank you all for standing beside me and sharing this experience through performance. Thank you to my thesis advisor, Shannon Suffoletto, and my reader, Kimberly Rothwell, who constantly gave me validation and pushed me moving forward. Thank you to Laura Downey for providing me inspiration and support to this study. Thank you to Bethany Brownholtz, my writing tutor, who gave me encouragement and helped me develop confidence. Thank you to the ITO Foundation, who offered a full scholarship to peruse my dream of studying in the United States. Their financial support and their genuine faith in me and my study truly encouraged me to give my best at all times during this master program. Without their support, I would not be standing here. Finally, thank you to all my family members who always looked forward to my accomplishments. Even though we live apart and across the world from each other, I always felt their support and love. Their faith in my strength means the world to me. ii Table of Contents Chapter I: Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 1 Purpose of the research. ............................................................................................................................ 3 Theoretical Approach ................................................................................................................................ 4 Phenomenological approach. ................................................................................................................ 4 Body-mind perspective. ........................................................................................................................ 5 Value of the Study .................................................................................................................................... 5 Chapter II: Literature Review ....................................................................................................................... 7 Infertility ................................................................................................................................................... 8 Definition and causes. ........................................................................................................................... 8 Infertility treatment. Many .................................................................................................................... 9 Psychological Challenges within the Experience of Infertility ............................................................... 10 Differences in infertility for women and men. .................................................................................... 11 Emotional distress. .............................................................................................................................. 12 Infertility’s influence on relationships. ............................................................................................... 15 Significance of support systems. ......................................................................................................... 16 Social Challenges within the Experience of Infertility ........................................................................... 17 Social view of infertility. .................................................................................................................... 17 Social isolation. ................................................................................................................................... 18 Psychotherapy and Infertility .................................................................................................................. 19 Efficacy of psychotherapy. ................................................................................................................. 19 Dance/Movement Therapy in the Medical Field .................................................................................... 21 Medical DMT. ..................................................................................................................................... 22 DMT with cancer treatment. ............................................................................................................... 23 DMT with infertile couples. ................................................................................................................ 24 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 25 Chapter III: Methods ................................................................................................................................... 27 Methodology ........................................................................................................................................... 28 Phenomenology. .................................................................................................................................. 28 Kvale’s interview analysis. ................................................................................................................. 29 Body-based techniques. ...................................................................................................................... 31 iii Participants .............................................................................................................................................. 32 Recruitment. ........................................................................................................................................ 32 Demographics. ...................................................................................................................................
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