Abstract
BackgroundThe physical and mental health of college-age youths tends to continuously decline around the world. It is therefore important to promote health during this period. As a traditional Chinese mind-body exercise, Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) may be an available selection. However for the college student population, the evidence is unclear as to whether TCC can be recommended as an effective exercise for promoting their physical and psychological wellbeing. Therefore high quality, rigorous, prospective, and well-controlled randomized trials are needed to further understand TCC serving as a psychological and physical intervention in college age populations.Method/DesignWe designed a randomized, single-blind, parallel-controlled trial with a sample size of 206 participants. All the participants who meet the inclusion criteria come from Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (FJTCM). Participants of the TCC training group will receive TCC training at a frequency of five days per week for one hour per day for 12 weeks. No specific exercise will be administered on the participants in the control group. Both physical and mental health outcomes, including balance ability, lower limb proprioception, flexibility, physical fitness, self-efficacy, psychological symptoms, attention span, stress, self-esteem, mood and mindfulness, quality of life, and quality of sleep. Safety outcomes will be evaluated by blinded operators at baseline, 12 and 24-weeks post-intervention.DiscussionThis protocol presents an objective design of a randomized, single-blind trial that will test the effectiveness and safety of TCC on the physical and psychological wellbeing of college students. If the outcome is positive, the results will provide higher quality evidence of TCC on the physical and mental health of college age populations.Trial registrationChinese Clinical Trial Registry: ChiCTR-TRC-13003328.
Highlights
The physical and mental health of college-age youths tends to continuously decline around the world
This protocol presents an objective design of a randomized, single-blind trial that will test the effectiveness and safety of Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) on the physical and psychological wellbeing of college students
For young adults, the evidence is unclear as to whether TCC can be recommended as an effective exercise for improving emotional state, psychological wellbeing and physical fitness
Summary
The aim of this trial is to evaluate the effect of TCC on the physical and mental health of college students. Currently few studies have reported on the association between TCC and the physical or mental health of college students. We scrupulously designed this randomized, parallelcontrolled, assessor-blinded and statistician-blinded trial to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of TCC on the physical and mental health of college students. Changes of various variables before and after the intervention in this trial may strengthen evidence of TCC for the physical and psychological health of college students
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