Effects of exercise and biofeedback applications on depression, anxiety and stress on university students

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of exercise and biofeedback applications on depression, anxiety and stress on university students. In the study, the true experimental model (pre-test-post-test control group design) was used from the exploratory research models and the experimental research models. The universe of the study consisted of 566 students. The sample consisted of 48 students aged between 18 and 30 who were selected from the 566-person universe. The age average of participants was found to be 20.79. Participants joined the study voluntarily. In the study, a demographic information form and Depression, Anxiety Stress Scale (DASÖ), which was developed by Lovibond and Lovibond (1995) and adapted to Turkish by Akın and Çetin (2007), were used in the collection of the data. Biofeedback measures were done through ProComp Infiniti biofeedback device. For analysis of the data obtained from the study, descriptive statistics, Wilcoxon test for dependent groups to measure the pre-test and post-test values, Mann Whitney U test for independent groups to determine the gender differences and Kruskal Wallis test to determine the differences between groups were used in the study. Bonferroni correction was made to remove the margin of error. The analysis of the data was done by SPSS 17 program and the level of significance was determined to be 0.05. There was no statistically significant difference between pre-test and post-test stress, anxiety and depression scores of participants in the control group according to the findings obtained at the end of the study (p>0.05); a statistically significant difference was found between pre-test and post-test stress, anxiety and depression averages of participants in exercise and biofeedback group (p<0.05). Significant differences were found between control group, exercise group and biofeedback groups stemming from control group (p<0.05). Regarding gender, statistically significant differences were found between male and female participants in the pre-test depression values of control group and in the pre-test stress values of biofeedback group (p<0.05). However, no significant difference was found in the exercise group regarding gender (p>0.05). In conclusion, exercise and biofeedback applications were found to be effective in reducing stress, anxiety and depression levels on students with mild to moderate stress, anxiety and depression. Keywords: Exercise, Biofeedback, Stress, Anxiety, Depression