The Resistance Exercise Training for Worry Trial: Replication and Expansion (RETRAIN REP-EX)

University of Limerick

Status: Completed

Conditions: Analogue Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Treatments: Behavioral: Low Intensity SHAM Resistance Exercise Training Attention Control; Behavioral: Moderate-to-High Intensity Resistance Exercise Training

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06804629

2017_03_18_EHS_new

GOIPG/2023/4158 (Other Grant/Funding Number)

Details and patient eligibility

About

This protocol details the full methods of a ten-week moderate-to-high intensity, guidelines-based resistance exercise training intervention compared to a low intensity sham attention control among young adult women with analogue Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

Full description

A recent clinical trial supported the anxiolytic effects of regularly-performed resistance exercise training compared to a waitlist control among young adults with and without at least subclinical, or analogue, Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Although the evidence to date is promising, waitlist control conditions cannot control for potential social and psychological benefits of engaging with most interventions, including social contact, expectations for improvement, and mastery experiences, which could potentially be achieved from easier activities. Therefore, this trial aims to replicate the previously investigated World Health Organization and American College of Sports Medicine guidelines-based resistance exercise training program, and expand on this research by more rigorously examining the effects on anxiety and worry symptoms, independent of potential social and psychological benefits of engagement with the intervention. Consequently, this trial quantifies the acute and chronic effects of moderate-to-high intensity, guidelines-based resistance exercise training compared to a low intensity SHAM attention control on signs and symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder among at-risk young adult women with Analogue Generalized Anxiety Disorder. This trial consists of a two-week familiarization protocol, eight weeks of formal resistance exercise training, and a one-month post-intervention follow-up.

Enrollment: 68 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18 to 40 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Female
• Aged 18-40y
• Met criteria for analogue Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Exclusion criteria

• Medical contraindications to doing resistance exercise training
• Currently involved in formal resistance exercise training
• Currently pregnant or post-partum

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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68 participants in 2 patient groups

Moderate-to-High Intensity Resistance Exercise Training

Experimental group

Description:

Moderate-to-high intensity, guidelines-based resistance exercise training completed at 70-80% of the estimated one-repetition maximum

Treatment:

Behavioral: Moderate-to-High Intensity Resistance Exercise Training

Low Intensity SHAM Resistance Exercise Training Attention Control

Sham Comparator group

Description:

Low intensity SHAM Resistance Exercise Training completed at 20% of the estimated one-repetition maximum

Treatment:

Behavioral: Low Intensity SHAM Resistance Exercise Training Attention Control