The effect of mindfulness exercises on reducing anxiety disorders of inactive female students: a study with a one-month follow-up

10.22034/ijmbsp.2024.420568.1082
Volume 3, Issue 3
Autumn 2023
Pages 35-44

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Phd in motor development

2 Faculty of Physical Education and Sports Sciences

Abstract
By developing cognitive functions through targeted exercises, people can be helped to deal with stressful situations without reducing performance. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of mindfulness exercises on reducing the anxiety of inactive female students in a study with a one-month follow-up. For this purpose, using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), 80 inactive female students with an age range of 10 to 12 years were selected from Ahvaz schools and after completing the Spence Parent Report Anxiety Questionnaire (1988) in the pre-test stage, randomly in 2 experimental and control groups were classified. Then, the experimental group participated in the mindfulness exercise program for 4 weeks and two 45-minute sessions each week, and the control group did their daily activities. At the end of the last post-test session, a follow-up was done after one month and the results were recorded. In order to analyze the data, the composite analysis of variance test with repeated measurement was used using SPSS version 26 software. The results showed that the effect of mindfulness exercises on the anxiety of inactive girls is significant (p<0.05). Comparing the stages, it was found that the participants in the experimental group performed better than the pre-test in the post-test and follow-up stages (p<0.05). Also, comparing the groups, the results showed that the experimental group performed better than the control group (p<0.05). According to the findings, it seems that mindfulness exercises are a useful way to reduce the anxiety of female students.

Keywords

Subjects
  • Receive Date 17 July 2023
  • Revise Date 30 October 2023
  • Accept Date 31 October 2023