ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces theoretical concepts to support and inform the practice of dance/movement therapy with medically ill people and their loved ones. Medical illness shall refer to conditions that present initially and primarily as physical in nature. The chapter presents a psychosocial support service for patients, their families, and caregivers, and is part of the continuum of integrative healthcare. It discusses the key outcomes: vitality, mood and emotions, body image, relationship-focused coping, and self-efficacy, and their measurement with the Heidelberg State Inventory well-being questionnaire, constructed on basis of the identification of the five foci. The chapter is concerned with the needs of adults living with various chronic medical conditions, salient targeted outcomes for Dance/movement therapy, and their measurement. With the Heidelberg State Inventory, a psychometric self-report measure, was created from the variables Goodill identified as important foci for patients with medical illness.
