Impact of an 8-Week Exercise and Sport Intervention on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms, Mental Health, and Physical Fitness among Male Refugees Living in a Greek Refugee Camp

Florian Knappe, Flora Colledge and Markus Gerber
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Florian Knappe: Department of Sport, Exercise and Health, University of Basel, 4052 Basel, Switzerland
Flora Colledge: Department of Sport, Exercise and Health, University of Basel, 4052 Basel, Switzerland
Markus Gerber: Department of Sport, Exercise and Health, University of Basel, 4052 Basel, Switzerland

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 20, 1-17

Abstract: Objective: To explore the potential impact of exercise and sport training on symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, quality of life, pain, and fitness in male refugees living in a Greek refugee camp. Methods: This investigation was designed as a one group pre-test/post-test study. A total of 45 refugees ( M age = 25.6) participated in the data assessment. All participants were invited to engage in an 8-week exercise and sport intervention. Data were analysed with hierarchical regression analyses. Results: Baseline scores significantly predicted post-intervention scores across all study variables. Regression analyses showed that a higher participation rate predicted fewer anxiety symptoms, better health-related quality of life, higher self-perceived fitness, higher handgrip strength, and better cardiovascular fitness at post-intervention. A non-significant trend was also found for PTSD and depressive symptoms, showing that a higher participation rate was associated with fewer complaints at post-intervention. Conclusions: Among male refugees living in precarious conditions in a Greek refugee camp, frequency of participation in an 8-week exercise and sport training program seemed to have the potential to positively impact refugees’ health. Due to the pre-experimental study design, our results must be interpreted with caution.

Keywords: fitness; Greece; mental health; physical activity; psychiatric symptoms; refugees (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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