Motivation and Barriers for Exercise in Patients With Anxiety or Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Relevance and Aim: There has been increasing research interest in sport preferences and motivational factors as well as barriers that restrain from engaging in sport activities in people suffering from mental illnesses. Anxiety disorders are one of the leading mental disorders worldwide. Exercise has previously shown anxiolytic effects and is discussed as an adjunctive treatment option in clinical practice. This study aims to depict motivation and barriers in patients with anxiety or posttraumatic stress disorders.

Design and Participants: Observational study of patients diagnosed with anxiety disorder or posttraumatic stress disorder (ICD-10)

Measurements: Structured questionnaire compounded of validated scales for current physical activity, sport motivation, exercise preferences, perceived barriers , self-efficacy, social support for physical activity, motivation,enjoyment, quality of life as well as sociodemographic data.

Duration: The questionnaire will require approximately 20 minutes, the overall duration is 3 months. Personal assistance for completing the questionnaire will be provided if necessary.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Exercise; Motivation

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 460

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Austria
  • Tyrol
    • Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria, 6020
      • University of Innsbruck

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 70 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Patients of outpatient department and inpatients of the Medical Hospital Innsbruck, Department of Psychiatry and Psychosomatic will be selected by clinical professionals according to inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• In- and out-patients with a diagnosed anxiety or posttraumatic stress disorder (F40, F41, F43.1; ICD-10)
• 18 to 65 years

Exclusion Criteria:

• acute psychosis or suicidal behaviour
• cognitive deficits
• problems with German language

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

2

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Clinical Population; In- and Out-Patients diagnosed with depression (F32, F33), anxiety disorder (F40, F41; ICD-10) or posttraumatic stress disorder (F43.1; ICD-10)
Healthy Controls; Subjects with no previous or actual mental disorder

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Physical activity	self reported, actual physical activity, measured by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form, IPAQ-SF; Craig et al., 2003	5 minutes
Sport motivation	measured by the Exercise Motivation Inventory, EMI-2; Markland & Hardy,1993	5 minutes
Perceived barriers	measured by 12 questions referring to Ussher, Stanbury, Cheeseman & Faulkner, 2007	5 minutes
Self-efficacy for physical activity	single item question according to Ussher, Stanbury, Cheeseman & Faulkner, 2007	1 minute
Social support for physical activity	single item question according to Ussher, Stanbury, Cheeseman & Faulkner, 2007	1 minute
Motivation for physical activity	single item question according to Ussher, Stanbury, Cheeseman & Faulkner, 2007	1 minute
Enjoyment of physical activity	single item question according to Ussher, Stanbury, Cheeseman & Faulkner, 2007	1 minute

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Universitaet Innsbruck
• Collaborators: Medical University Innsbruck
• Investigators: Study Chair: Martin Kopp, PhD, Prof., Department of Sport Science, University of Innsbruck; Study Director: Barbara Sperner-Unterweger, MD, Prof., Department of Psychosomatics, Medical University of Innsbruck

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Bichler CS, Niedermeier M, Gufler A, Galffy M, Sperner-Unterweger B, Kopp M. A case-control study on physical activity preferences, motives, and barriers in patients with psychiatric conditions. Compr Psychiatry. 2021 Nov;111:152276. doi: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2021.152276. Epub 2021 Sep 23.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 7, 2019
• Primary Completion (Actual): October 1, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): December 30, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 24, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 24, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): January 28, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 27, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 25, 2020
• Last Verified: March 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Anxiety; Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders; Stress Disorders, Traumatic; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
• Other Study ID Numbers: 256913

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No