The effects of 60 minutes of supervised weekly walking (in a single vs. 3–5 session format) on depressive symptoms among older women: Findings from a pilot randomized trial

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effects of training frequency on psychological benefits resulting from a walking program among older women with subsyndromal depression. Methods All participants were randomly assigned to a 4-week-long self-paced walking program including one (G 1) or three to five (G 3–5) weekly training sessions. They completed the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) as a measure of depressive symptoms during the intervention and one month later. Results Using statistics for small- n designs, it appeared that, at the end of the program, a significantly greater proportion of women in G 3–5 reported GDS values below the cutoff score of 10 (i.e., indicative of the absence of any depressive symptoms) compared to women in G 1 (5 of 6 vs. 1 of 6; Φ 2 = 0.48; p < .05). The GDS scores after treatment were significantly lower than baseline scores in both groups ( Z = 2.20; p < .03, and Z = 1.99; p < .05 respectively), but the mean decrease of depressive symptoms was significantly larger in G 3-5 (48.9%) than in G 1 (22.7%). Conclusion Breaking 60 min of weekly walking into shorter periods on 3–5 days a week appears to be more effective to alleviate depressive symptoms in older women with subsyndromal depression.