ABSTRACT Background: Exercise training has a history of alleviating anxiety in various populations, but research into its effects on prison inmates is limited. Confinement to prison is a highly distressing event for those who have never experienced incarceration, which can dramatically increase anxiety-related symptoms and may exacerbate suicidal risk. Methods: Thirty-seven first-time prisoners with elevated anxiety symptoms completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory before and after a 6-week long treatment period consisting of interval exercise training (IET; n = 20) or no intervention (waiting-list; n = 17). Prisoners in the IET intervention had to exercise three times per week (40 min per session) under the supervision of the first and/or second author. Exercise intensity was self-monitored using the Borg's RPE-15 scale, with targets in the range 13-15 ("somewhat hard"-"hard"). Results: Those who received the IET intervention showed a significantly greater reduction in anxiety than prisoners in the waiting-list. The effect size for IET was of moderate-to-large magnitude (Cohen's d = -0.71). Conclusion: The authors conclude that the lower levels of anxiety reported following IET suggest that supervised exercise training is an effective coping strategy to deal with incarceration. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04019171.

中文翻译：

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对焦虑症状加重的首次囚犯的简短间歇运动训练 (IET) 干预的评估。

摘要背景：运动训练有缓解各种人群焦虑的历史，但对其对监狱囚犯影响的研究有限。对于从未经历过监禁的人来说，入狱是一件非常痛苦的事情，这会显着增加与焦虑相关的症状，并可能加剧自杀风险。方法：37 名焦虑症状升高的首次囚犯在 6 周长的治疗期之前和之后完成了状态-特质焦虑量表，治疗期包括间歇运动训练（IET；n = 20）或不干预（等待名单； n = 17）。IET 干预中的囚犯必须在第一和/或第二作者的监督下每周锻炼 3 次（每次 40 分钟）。使用 Borg 的 RPE-15 量表自我监测运动强度，目标范围为 13-15（“有点困难”-“困难”）。结果：与等待名单中的囚犯相比，接受 IET 干预的囚犯的焦虑程度显着降低。IET 的影响大小为中到大（Cohen's d = -0.71）。结论：作者得出结论，IET 后报告的较低焦虑水平表明有监督的运动训练是处理监禁的有效应对策略。试验注册：ClinicalTrials.gov 标识符：NCT04019171。作者得出结论，IET 后报告的较低焦虑水平表明有监督的运动训练是处理监禁的有效应对策略。试验注册：ClinicalTrials.gov 标识符：NCT04019171。作者得出结论，IET 后报告的较低焦虑水平表明有监督的运动训练是处理监禁的有效应对策略。试验注册：ClinicalTrials.gov 标识符：NCT04019171。