The Effect of Aerobic Training on the Mental Health of Addict Women

Background and Addict women face more mental problems than healthy women, and the issue is less attended. Applying inexpensive, easily accessible preventive measures like aerobic training can improve their mental health. The present study was to investigate the effect of aerobic training on the mental health of addict women in the central prison of Zahedan, Iran. Methods and Materials: This experimental study involved the addict women in the central prison of Zahedan, Iran in 2008. Thirty addict women were randomly selected and assigned into two equal groups (15 controls and 15 experimental). The Goldberg General Health Questionnaire (GHQ 28) and Demographic Characteristics Questionnaire were used for Data collection. The experimental group was trained for 8 weeks, three weekly sessions of 45 minutes. Both groups completed the questionnaires before and after the 8-week training for the evaluation of their mental health status. The data were analyzed in SPSS 15 using descriptive statistics (frequency, mean and standard deviation) as well as the dependent and independent t-test. Results showed that after eight weeks of aerobic training program, symptoms significantly improved: physical symptoms (from 12.20±6.37 to 4/±53±2/83), anxiety (from 14.47±4.50 to 4.33±2.13), depression (from 11.67±6.78 to 3.60±3.25) and mental health (from 48.20±15.50 to 18.87±6.71) (p≤0.05). However, the social functioning of the participants did not significantly change (from 10.33±4.43 to 7.70±3.80). The results indicated aerobic training had an effective role in improving the mental health of addict women.