An eight-week salsa dance programme reduced depressive symptoms, social anxiety and improved daily happiness in young adults with mild to moderately severe depressive symptoms, although researchers say further studies are needed.
An eight-week salsa dance programme significantly reduced depressive symptoms in young adults aged 18 to 24 years compared with a waitlist control group, according to a randomised controlled trial led by researchers at the University of Oxford’s Department of Psychiatry and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust.
The findings suggest that structured social dance could become a low-cost, accessible addition to existing mental health support for young people, particularly at a time when many struggle to access care they find engaging and acceptable. However, the researchers emphasised that salsa dancing is not a replacement for established mental health treatments.
Clinically meaningful improvement
The study recruited 121 participants with mild to moderately severe depressive symptoms and randomly assigned them to either an eight-week salsa programme or a waitlist control group. Researchers assessed participants’ mental health before, during and after the intervention.
Participants who attended the salsa classes experienced a significantly greater reduction in depressive symptoms than those in the control group. By the end of the study, the difference between the two groups was equivalent to a 2.45-point improvement on the PHQ-9 depression scale, exceeding the threshold considered clinically meaningful.
The salsa group also reported greater reductions in social anxiety and a steeper increase in daily happiness.
The research was part funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) through the Oxford Health Pump Priming Grant.
Why salsa?
Depression is a mental health condition characterised by persistent low mood and other symptoms that affect daily functioning. The PHQ-9 is a widely used questionnaire that measures the severity of depressive symptoms.
Lead author Brennan Delattre, a doctoral researcher, said depression is both common and increasing among young people, while many do not receive support that feels accessible or designed for their needs.
“The results of this study were encouraging, with young people who took part in the salsa classes showing a significantly greater reduction in depressive symptoms and social anxiety and increases in happiness over time,” Delattre said.
He said salsa combines physical activity, music, social interaction and a predictable class structure, which may make social engagement easier for some participants than less structured social settings.
“While salsa dancing is not a replacement for other types of mental health care, nor will it be the right fit for everyone, our findings suggest that social dance deserves serious attention as part of a broader menu of wellbeing support for young people,” he added.
Designed with young people
The intervention was developed with input from young people through a Patient and Participant Involvement process. Researchers selected salsa after participants identified it as an acceptable and appealing form of social dance.
Feedback suggested that participants valued the welcoming atmosphere, supportive instructors and motivation to attend classes. Importantly, none of the participants described the intervention as unacceptable.
Co-author Professor Susannah Murphy from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford said the project addressed a longstanding challenge in youth mental health services.
“Too often, there is a gap between the mental health support available and the kinds of activities young people feel motivated to engage with,” Murphy said.
She added that the NIHR BRC Pump Priming funding enabled the team to evaluate an intervention designed with young people rather than for them. The findings, she said, indicate that social dance could eventually become part of a broader mental health support toolkit alongside existing treatments.
More research needed
The researchers cautioned that the study has important limitations. Participants were not diagnosed with depression through clinical interviews, and the comparison group was a waitlist rather than an active control group.
Despite these limitations, the authors said the findings support further evaluation of social dance as a scalable, enjoyable and low-cost approach that could complement existing wellbeing programmes in community, university and healthcare settings, including the National Health Service (NHS).
Future research, they added, could help determine how such programmes might be delivered and implemented more widely within healthcare and community settings.
