Modified African Ngoma Healing Ceremony for Stress Reduction: A Pilot Study
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: Indigenous people's ceremonies using rhythm and dance have been used for countless generations throughout the world for healing, conflict resolution, social bonding, and spiritual experience. A previous study reported that a ceremony based on the Central African ngoma tradition was favorably received by a group of Americans. The present trial compared the effects of the modified ngoma ceremony (Ngoma) with those of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) in a randomized pilot study. METHODS: Twenty-one women were randomized to either Ngoma or MBSR. Both groups had sessions on a weekly basis for 8 weeks and completed questionnaires at baseline, week 8, and 1 month after the intervention. Participants completed questionnaires, which included self-report of depressive and anxiety symptoms, health status (e.g., quality of life and functioning), social bonding, and perception of the credibility of the two interventions. RESULTS: Both groups showed improvements in depression, anxiety, emotional well being, and social functioning as measured by respective scales. Social bonding also increased in both groups during the study and may be a mechanism for both interventions. Participants found both interventions credible. CONCLUSIONS: In this pilot study, Ngoma showed significant and durable beneficial effects comparable to MBSR. The effects of Ngoma and other indigenous rhythm-dance ceremonies on distress and health status in western culture should be investigated in larger clinical studies.
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Ngoma has been integral to healing, conflict resolution, social bonding, and spiritual experiences across various cultures for generations.
“Ngoma, rooted in Central and South African traditions, an indigenous rhythmic and dance ceremony, has been integral to healing, conflict resolution, social bonding, and spiritual experiences across various cultures for generations.”
From Comprehensive review of chronic stress pathways and the efficacy of behavioral stress reduction programs (BSRPs) in managing diseases. (2024) · cites this paper as [346]
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- Authors
- Vinesett, A. L., Whaley, R. R., Woods-Giscombe, C., Dennis, P., Johnson, M., Li, Y., Mounzeo, P., Baegne, M., & Wilson, K. H.
- Affiliations
- Duke University (US)
- Duke Medical Center (US)
- School of Nursing, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC.
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wilson, Kenneth H.
- Venue
- The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2017-10
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 800-804
- ISSN
- 1075-5535 (ISSN-L)
- 1557-7708
- PMC
- PMC5655458
- OpenAlex
- W2755670515
- Cited by
- 8
- References
- 15
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 0.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Music Therapy and Health
- Keywords
- ngoma, stress reduction, mindfulness-based stress reduction, depression, anxiety, social bonding, quality of life, social functioning, emotional well-being, indigenous rituals, women
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Anxiety, Ceremonial Behavior, Dance Therapy, Depression, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Pilot Projects, Random Allocation, Stress, Psychological, Medicine, African Traditional, Mindfulness
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