Abstract:

Background and aims:
“Make the healthy choice the easier choice” slogan stays in the heart of the successful health promotion projects. World Health Organization recommends physical activity, such as dancing, as the most effective prevention strategy to risky health behaviors. Dancing affects all human body including the respiratory system, the blood flow, the nervous systems and the mental health. It affects the general condition of the person, requiring the presence of a high potential of physical qualities - speed, strength and endurance. Dances increase the motivation of the dancers and have a beneficial impact on the overall well-being of the dancer. Bulgarian folk dances, as a sportive discipline, are mandatory for the secondary school curriculum in Bulgaria. They are introduced also as a discipline of choice at Medical University of Varna and there are many students who choose and visit these classes. Therefore, the present study aims to enrich the knowledge about the impact of folk dances on health by using a sample of students from different specialties and years of study. Additionally, the factors influencing their motivation and attitudes towards folk dancing are examined.

Methods:
The study included a sample of 100 students from Bulgarian language courses, from different years and majors. Those willing to participate in the direct anonymous questionnaire were asked before the beginning of the folk dance classes at the Medical University - Varna in April 2018 to fill in the questionnaire. The information from the collected questionnaires was processed with IBM SPSS Statistics v.23, and the analysis, included a comparative analysis of the Independent Sample t-test to identify differences in girls / boys motivation; a correlation analysis for determining the associative links between the attitudes of measurement and the analysis of the motivation scale for Bulgarian folk dances (Cronbach alpha).

Results and discussion:
The analysis of the results showed the beneficial influence of the Bulgarian folk dances on reducing the harmful smoking habits (r = - 0,216, p=0,031). The students attending the classes find the dances as motivating and making them energetic. They define folk dancing as a hobby, a dance and a way to relax. Seven elements of the scale to measure students’ motivation influence their attitudes to activities such as students' understanding that dance brings new friendships, reduces stress, is considered interesting, exciting, helping to improve health, despite that it can be difficult sometimes. Additionally, results have shown that the motivation of students to engage in Bulgarian folk dances in their classes of physical education and sports is not influenced by their sex, age or specialty.

Conclusions:
Dancing as a physical activity brings together young people regardless of gender, age, specialty, religion and culture. It is the only activity for over 56% of the students at the Medical University of Varna who don’t do any sport outside the university. Therefore, teaching folk dancing is an innovative and successful health promotion strategy. The presented study is an education-based research at a university health promotion level.

Keywords:

Attitudes, motivation, Bulgarian folk dances, health promotion, Medical University of Varna.