Efficacy Study of Mindfulness-Based Exercise for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

University of New Mexico (UNM)

Status

Completed

Conditions

Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic

Treatments

Behavioral: Mindfulness-based exercise

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT01462045

CTSC027-2

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study will explore the relationship between changes in plasma cortisol and symptom reduction resulting from individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) participating in an 8-week program of mindfulness-based stretching and breathing exercise. The investigators hypothesize that at the completion of participation in the 8-week program, exercise-induced symptom reduction will be associated with changes in cortisol levels.

Full description

This study will employ an intent-to-treat design to evaluate the relationship between exercise-induced posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom reduction and exercise-induced changes in cortisol level. The participants consist of nurses and the intervention will be conducted at the Clinical and Translational Science Center of the University of New Mexico. The study was approved by the Human Research Protections Office of the university. Nurses who are screened positively for PTSD will be randomly assigned to either control or exercise group. At baseline and in weeks 4, 8, 12 and 16, immediately after the phlebotomy for serum cortisol, the investigators will ask the participants to rate the severity of their PTSD symptoms using the PTSD Checklist (PCL).

Enrollment

29 patients

Sex

All

Ages

21+ years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

employed as a nurse
PCL-C score of at least 28 with at least a score of 3 on one or more items for inclusion in the PTSD symptomatic groups (EX and CON)
PCL-C score of 27 or lower for inclusion in the non-PTSD symptomatic group (BASE).

Exclusion criteria

the inability to complete the exercise program
a positive answer to any of the seven screening questions on the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q)
current use of prednisone or other forms of cortisone medication excluding cortisone in inhaled form

Trial design

Primary purpose

Treatment

Allocation

Randomized

Interventional model

Parallel Assignment

Masking

None (Open label)

29 participants in 3 patient groups

Exercise Group

Experimental group

Description:

Participants who are screened positive for PTSD and participate in the series of 16 standardized, semiweekly 60-minute mindfulness-based exercise sessions. The intervention consists of stretching and balancing movements combined with breathing and a focus on mindfulness.Over the course of 8 weeks, the intensity of the exercise increases, but the sequence of the movements is the same.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Mindfulness-based exercise

Control Group

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants who are screened positive for PTSD but do not participate in the mindfulness-based exercise.

Base Group

No Intervention group

Description:

Healthy volunteers who are not screened positive for PTSD and do not participate in the mindfulness-based exercise.