Efficacy of Taiji Training as a Program for Stress Prevention

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

70 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2010-07-31

Study Completion Date

2011-06-30

Brief Summary

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Background: Excessive exposure to psychosocial stress can be a potent trigger for somatic diseases and psychological disorders, a cause for missing work, and eventually lead to high economic loss. Therefore, for health and economic reasons the assessment of effectiveness of stress preventive interventions is of high relevance. According to several clinical studies, Taiji, a Chinese form of mindful and gentle movements, can significantly reduce symptoms of somatic diseases and psychological disorders. Some recently conducted Taiji-studies with healthy subjects indicate a stress protective effect. However, the stress protective impact of Taiji regarding psychosocial stress has not yet been examined.

Objective: To investigate the efficacy of a 12 week Taiji training as a stress prevention program by measuring psychosocial stress reactivity in a laboratory setting, as well as the subjective perception of stress and coping-resources in daily life of 70 healthy volunteers.

Hypothesis: Healthy subjects attending a 12 week Taiji course (frequency: twice a week for 1h) will show significantly reduced psychobiological reactivity, decreased stress perception and increased coping-resources on a standardized psychosocial stress test compared with healthy subject of the waiting list.

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Detailed Description

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Background:

Excessive exposure to psychosocial stress can be a potent trigger for somatic diseases and psychological disorders, a cause for missing work, and eventually lead to high economic loss. Therefore, for health and economic reasons the assessment of effectiveness of stress preventive interventions is of high relevance. According to several clinical studies, Taiji, a Chinese form of mindful and gentle movements, can significantly reduce symptoms of somatic diseases and psychological disorders. Some recent Taiji-studies with healthy subjects indicate a stress protective effect. However, since these findings mainly focus on effects during or immediately after a Taiji training session, their study designs and outcome measures are not comparable with existing stress prevention efficacy studies and their sample sizes are generally too small, the present available results remain inconclusive. Also, the impact of a Taiji training on psychosocial stress has not been assessed so far.

Objective:

The objective of this study is to assess the efficacy of a 12 week Taiji training as a stress prevention program by measuring psychosocial stress reactivity in a laboratory setting, subjective perception of stress and coping-resources of 70 healthy subjects in daily life.

Methods:

The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) will be used to measure the psychobiological stress reactivity. Salivary cortisol, alpha amylase, heart rate and heart rate variability will be measured in each subject to asses stress reactivity, Also, the primary appraisal secondary appraisal (PASA) questionnaire and the multidimensional mood questionnaire (MDBF) will be used to assess psychological stress reactivity, and a visual analogue scale (VAS) to measure perceived stressfulness.

Additionally to the TSST setting, pre-, post-intervention and 2 months follow up measurements will be taken. The following tools will be used: Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Stress Reactivity Scale (SRS)(to assess perceived stress), and self-efficacy-expectancy questionnaire (SWE), questionnaire for measuring wellbeing (FEW-16), Freiburg mindfulness inventory (FMI) and self compassion scale (SCS) (to assess perceived coping resources).

Conditions

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Primary Prevention Stress Tai ji Adult

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

PREVENTION

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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Taiji

35 healthy participants will regularly during 12 weeks attend Taiji training classes twice a week for one hour. (Sept. 6th till Nov. 25th 2010).

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Taiji training

Intervention Type OTHER

Taiji training during 12 weeks (twice a week for 1 hour) (Sept. 6th till Nov. 25th 2010). The first 18 sequences of a series of 37 movements of the short form Yang style Taiji will be taught. The focus will be on memorizing the series of movements, developing a regular training routine and working on body alignment and flow of the movements.

waiting list control group

35 healthy participants are not allowed to attend any Taiji training during the intervention period (Sept. 6th till Nov. 25th 2010).

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

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Taiji training

Taiji training during 12 weeks (twice a week for 1 hour) (Sept. 6th till Nov. 25th 2010). The first 18 sequences of a series of 37 movements of the short form Yang style Taiji will be taught. The focus will be on memorizing the series of movements, developing a regular training routine and working on body alignment and flow of the movements.

Intervention Type OTHER

Other Intervention Names

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Taiji Tai Chi Tai Chi Chuan Taijiquan

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* ready to participate in the Taiji-intervention group as well as in the Waiting list control group
* mentally healthy
* physically healthy
* fluent in German (written and spoken)

Exclusion Criteria

* previous practical experience with Taiji-exercises
* previous practical experience with the Trier Social Stress Test
* being absent for more than one week between Sept. 6th and Nov. 25th 2010
* daily alcohol consumption more than two alcoholic drinks
* daily tobacco consumption more than five cigarettes per day
* any kind of drug consumption
* pregnancy
* intake of hormonal compounds i.e. birth control pill and hormon replacement therapy

Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

50 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes