Date of Award
2007
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Program
Kinesiology
Supervisor
Dr. Harry Prapavessis
Abstract
The study purpose was to examine the psychological, cognitive and physiological changes that accompany exercise-mediated amelioration of clinical depression. Depressed participants were randomly assigned to either a six week aerobic exercise (n=10) or stretching (n= 13) program. The outcome variables were depression severity, coping efficacy, episodic memory and cortisol awakening response (CAR). In both groups, depression significantly decreased over six weeks [F(1,15) = 17.20, p=0.001, η2=0.53], accompanied by a decrease in CAR [F(1,11) = 0.68, p=0.43, η2=0.06] and significant increases in coping efficacy [F(1,15) = 13.26, p=0.002, η2=0.47] and memory performance (un-cued recall: [F(1,15) = 6.10, p=0.03, η2=0.29], cued recall: [F(1,15) = 5.86, p=0.03, η2=0.30]). Change in depression was correlated with change in coping efficacy and change in CAR. Change in episodic memory was correlated with change in CAR. Overall, this study demonstrates that exercise is an efficacious depression treatment and is associated with positive psychological, cognitive and physiological changes.
Recommended Citation
Foley, Louise S., "Exercise Treatment for Depression: An Examination of Psychological, Cognitive and Physiological Mechanisms" (2007). Digitized Theses. 5101.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/digitizedtheses/5101