Effect of 12 Weeks of Pilates Exercises on Improvement of Symptoms in Elderly Women with Mild Depression

چکیده مقاله

Background: Depression is a major mental illness and the most common psychiatric disorders in the elderly. The main objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of 12 weeks of Pilates on the treatment of depression in elderly non-athlete women. Materials and Methods: This is a semi-experimental study. The sample consisted of 30 elderly non-athlete women selected from the community available to the elderly women in 2012 with an age range of 64.93±3.83 who had referred to Amirrkabir Psychiatric Center in Kashan (Iran); they were randomly divided into two groups: experimental and control. Participants' depression was measured by the shortened Beck Depression Inventory - 13 (BDI-S-13). The experimental group for 12 weeks, three sessions per week, performed Pilates exercise program. In the statistical analysis, analysis of variance and post hoc T- tests (follow up test) were used by using the software T SPSS16 at P≤0.05. Results: There was a significant decrease in depression in post test of the experimental group compared to the pre test (P≤0.001); but in control group, there were observed no significant differences. Conclusion: 12 weeks of Pilate's exercises was considered as a non-invasive, non-drug solution to a significant improvement of depression in elderly nonathletes women.