Moving Communities: A Study of the Effects of Group Zumba Classes on the Sense of Community in Three Communities Surrounding Oaxaca de Juarez, Oaxaca, Mexico

The study AMEXTRA “Moving Communities”: A study of the effects of group zumba classes on the sense of community in three communities surrounding Oaxaca de Juarez, Oaxaca, Mexico” concludes that group zumba classes are an effective method of developing and strengthening the sense of community among women in settlements surrounding Oaxaca de Juárez. This study used the Sense of Community Index II, created by David W. McMillan and David M. Chavis to measure the strength of the sense of community in the settlements of interest before and after a five-week group zumba class intervention.1 The goals of the intervention were to:

1. Bring women of different cultures, religions and political beliefs together
2. Provide a space where women could interact positively with their neighbors
3. Teach the women how to cooperate in groups
4. Increase the women’s abilities to solve problems with their neighbors

There were two settlements that served as experimental groups, which received the intervention, and one settlement that served as a control that did not receive the intervention. The intervention was further accompanied by in-depth interviews with the participants and weekend stays and visits in both of the experimental settlements for the purpose of learning more about the sense of community and community life. The participants were made eligible through their participation with the organization AMEXTRA, for which this study was conducted. AMEXTRA, also known as the Mexican Association for Urban and Rural Transformation, is a national organization within Mexico. The Oaxaca team works with groups of women in six communities promoting healthy eating, helping to build home gardens and teaching women and children about peaceful conflict resolution. All participants were female because AMEXTRA strictly works with groups of women in these settlements. Participation in the survey, as well as in the group zumba classes, was voluntary. The zumba classes were accompanied by health lessons on related topics such as obesity, diabetes and nutrition. These health lessons accompanied the zumba classes in order to give all AMEXTRA women the chance to learn and participate, even if they did not want to participate in the zumba classes. However, this study focuses on the effects of the zumba classes in relation to the sense of community in the settlements of study.

The quantitative data in the study suggests that the zumba intervention had positive effects on the sense of community in one of the experimental communities and negative effects on the sense of community in the other experimental community. These differences in results are most likely due to a lack of time allotted to institute the intervention and a lack of attendance at pre and post survey sessions. However, the behavior of the women during and after the zumba classes, as well as the qualitative data, show that the zumba intervention was effective in accomplishing its main objectives and allowing the women in these settlements to cross cultural, religious, and political barriers to come together for the zumba classes. Future studies of similar nature must implement the exercise intervention for a longer time and allow more time to gather survey information in order to produce more accurate and consistent results.