The impact of a school-based sports dance program on social anxiety and body esteem among adolescents with special education needs in China: a non-randomized controlled pre-post quasi-experimental study.

This controlled pre-post quasi-experimental study examined whether a school-based sports dance program targeting social anxiety could enhance physical self-esteem among adolescents with special education needs in Chinese school settings. Participants were non-randomly assigned to either an intervention or comparison group based on school scheduling. Adjusted multilevel models were employed to account for baseline differences and the clustered nature of the data. The sports dance program was associated with a sustained reduction in social anxiety and a concurrent increase in physical self-esteem, with larger improvements observed among students with greater baseline severity. Mechanism analyses suggested that body-related self-processes, including appearance comparison, body shame, and self-focused attention, partially accounted for the linkage between social anxiety and physical self-esteem. Contextual factors further shaped outcomes, as supportive school climate and inclusive peer norms appeared to buffer the negative pathway, whereas bullying exposure amplified risk. A translational prediction tool was developed to identify students at elevated risk of low physical self-esteem at follow-up, supporting school-based screening and tiered support. Overall, while the quasi-experimental design precludes definitive causal conclusions, ecology-informed sports dance activities may represent a feasible strategy for promoting well-being in special education contexts.