Traditional Art Dance Therapy to Reduce Stress Levels of Elementary School Students

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the development of new learning systems that are more student-centered. Unfortunately, elementary school students experienced stress and difficulties in adapting from face-to-face to online learning system. Online learning environment lacks in accommodating outdoor activities which are important for children. Several techniques can be applied to reduce stress, including dancing. This research aimed to examine the effectiveness of Traditional Art dance Therapy (TATA) for elementary school students in reducing stress. In this quasi-experimental research, one-group pretest-posttest design without control group was applied, involving 84 students at one elementary school in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Students’ levels of stress were measured using the school-based stressors scale and were analyzed using bivariate Wilcoxon test. The results of the data analysis showed that older students had relatively lower stress levels than younger ones. A significant decrease in stress (p < 0.001) from 61.90 to 41.99 was identified between the stress levels before and after the implementation of TATA. It concludes that TATA effectively reduces the stress levels among elementary school students adapting to the new learning system in the new normal era after COVID-19 pandemic.