The study aimed to identify and understand the phenomenon of group processes comparing two Personal Development (PD) group modalities. One group mainly used verbalisation and the other mainly used movement for interaction and self-expression. Group processes were expressed through the analysis of the participant's non-verbal movements and the verbal expressions of their experience in the group. The thesis of this study was that group processes can be expressed and identified through movement and verbal expressions. This study built on previous studies that have explored group processes in both Dance Movement Psychotherapy (DMP) and in Verbal Group Psychotherapy fields in relation to PD groups. Two theoretical frameworks that underpinned this study were: DMP as group work and Group Psychotherapy with the primary focus on group processes in PD groups. These theories were selected for their pertinence to the understanding of group processes and PD groups. The comparison between the groups intended to answer the study's question: which group processes as expressed verbally and non-verbally in movement can be identified in a dance movement PD group compared with a verbal PD group? Qualitative hermeneutic phenomenology methodology was employed in this study in order to answer the above question using two collection and analysis methods: movement observation using Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) and a thematic analysis of participants' verbal reflections in semi-structured interviews. The findings of the study have shown which group process developed in each of the PD groups identified through the two collections methods. For instance, they were conflict, rivalry, trust, intimacy and cohesion. The analysis of the DM PD group has shown differences in findings between that which the movement observation identified and that which participants described in the interviews. The study aimed to contribute to the body of knowledge regarding group processes in DMP and group psychotherapy theory and research. Exploring group processes through the use of movement and verbalisation adds to the professional development and training in both fields. The study outcome offers an original contribution to practice, through the development of a group work guide for facilitators, derived from the group processes conceptual model. It represents a new way of understanding group processes and dynamics through the observation of a group's movements and verbal reflections by participants. This guide is aimed at supporting facilitators of PD groups when considering interventions both when leading groups and when reflecting on the groups' processes.

Taking research as a tool to learn how new technology can develop new diagnosis and treatment methods in the physical field, takes place the education in motor sciences. On one hand, current research has shed light into novel methods to improve motor performance for athletes as well as for people learning new motor gestures. On the other hand it has also helped to improve treatment efficiency for people suffering motor cerebral lesions like: cerebrovascular attack (CVA) and cerebral palsy. This doctoral thesis addresses different protocols to analyze motor gestures and brain oscillations through visual perception.Our brain encompasses a changing symphony of oscillating activity throughout our lives. Up to the time we are born, we are ready to feel and move to interact with our world. Our senses develop rapidly and we start to perceive the world and learn. We visually perceive and process big amounts of information on a daily basis. At the same time we see movements from ourselves and from others in order to communicate and interact with our environment. We watch the world move. Moreover, from the links that exist between motor and sensory systems in human beings we may approach individual motor activity as a loop between a control (brain) over the effectors (muscles) which act, perceive and send the information back to the control source.The present group of works presented in this doctoral thesis is based on the correlation between human brain scalp activity, measured by means of electroencephalography (EEG) recordings, visual perception and its interpretation through different approaches. / Doctorat en Sciences de la motricité / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The research presented in this thesis is an explorative study into the basic concepts and the effects of dance movement psychotherapy (DMP) intervention on the attunement behaviours of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). From a retrospective analysis of positively evaluated single cases of DMP with ASD participants, movement markers of interpersonal relating behaviours have been formulated in terms of Social Engagement and Attunement Movement (SEAM) behaviours. These were organised into an observation scale, and used subsequently to generate nominal observation data on the behaviours of a small sample of children with ASD. Evaluation with the SEAM observation scale yielded a significant increase of SEAM behaviours in the course of the dance therapy. Retrospective analysis of the actions of the therapist throughout four single cases of DMP with ASD participants yielded a specific approach that was described as Shared Movement Approach (SMA). SMA has been specified as an improvisation based method of DMP that takes the child's interpersonal attunement and engagement behaviours as cues for the therapist to accommodate her interventions, so that the child's interpersonal relating behaviours are facilitated and supported. Through her kinaesthetically informed interventions the DMP therapist contributes to an increase of interpersonal engagement and attunement by the ASD participant from within the shared movement actions. The SEAM observation scale was explored on conceptual clarity and consistency in a group of independent movement analysts, and interrater agreement was used as an indication of its contents validity. An interval rating procedure with the SEAM scale yielded the best results on interrater agreement as expressed in Cohen's kappa. The Shared Movement Approach and the SEAM observation scale were then tested for replication of outcome on SEAM behaviours within four repeated single subject cases in a pilot study in a Dutch outpatient clinical setting. The outcome monitoring yielded the replication of increase of interpersonal relating behaviours as measured with the SEAM observation scale. Within subject therapy outcomes, although diverse in their individual profiles, were found to be significant when analysed with non-parametric tests. Group averages showed a significant increase of SEAM behaviours. The effects beyond therapy were evaluated with the somatic and social sub-scales of the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), showing individual differences and a significant problem reduction on average. The outcomes as experienced by the juvenile participants were evaluated with the somatic and social sub-scales of the Youth Self Report (YSR), which on average showed a significant decrease of experienced social and somatic problems. The results obtained are discussed in view of current theories on experiential approaches and concepts for psychotherapy with an ASD population.