Cargando…

The Effects of a 16-Week School-Based Exercise Program on Anxiety in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Physical activity interventions have been shown to decrease anxiety in children with ASD. There is little known regarding the effects of an exercise program on anxiety in both home and school settings and the optimal dosage to reduce anxiety. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the effect...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Carey, Marie, Sheehan, Damien, Healy, Sean, Knott, Fiona, Kinsella, Sharon
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9104305/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35564866
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095471
_version_ 1784707762021728256
author Carey, Marie
Sheehan, Damien
Healy, Sean
Knott, Fiona
Kinsella, Sharon
author_facet Carey, Marie
Sheehan, Damien
Healy, Sean
Knott, Fiona
Kinsella, Sharon
author_sort Carey, Marie
collection PubMed
description Physical activity interventions have been shown to decrease anxiety in children with ASD. There is little known regarding the effects of an exercise program on anxiety in both home and school settings and the optimal dosage to reduce anxiety. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the effects of a 16-week exercise program on the anxiety levels of children with moderate to severe symptoms of ASD in home and school settings, and to compare the effects at 8 and 16 weeks. This study was a within-subject, non-controlled design, intervention study. Twenty-four children (5–18 years) with moderate to severe ASD were included. A school-based exercise program was implemented three days a week for 16 weeks. Parents and teachers completed the Anxiety Scale for Children for ASD (ASC-ASD) at baseline, week 8, and week 16. A one-way repeated-measure ANOVA with post hoc analysis using Bonferroni adjustment was used to test for a significant effect for time (p < 0.05), with Cohen’s d used to calculate the effect size. For teacher-reported anxiety, there were significant decreases from baseline to week 16 for total ASC-ASD (p < 0.001), performance anxiety (p < 0.001), anxious arousal (p < 0.001), and uncertainty (p < 0.001). There was no significant decrease in parent-reported anxiety. The findings demonstrate that a 16-week exercise program can reduce anxiety in children with ASD in school settings. Results demonstrate that 16 weeks, as opposed to 8, may be necessary to have a significant effect on in-school anxiety.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9104305
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-91043052022-05-14 The Effects of a 16-Week School-Based Exercise Program on Anxiety in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Carey, Marie Sheehan, Damien Healy, Sean Knott, Fiona Kinsella, Sharon Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Physical activity interventions have been shown to decrease anxiety in children with ASD. There is little known regarding the effects of an exercise program on anxiety in both home and school settings and the optimal dosage to reduce anxiety. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the effects of a 16-week exercise program on the anxiety levels of children with moderate to severe symptoms of ASD in home and school settings, and to compare the effects at 8 and 16 weeks. This study was a within-subject, non-controlled design, intervention study. Twenty-four children (5–18 years) with moderate to severe ASD were included. A school-based exercise program was implemented three days a week for 16 weeks. Parents and teachers completed the Anxiety Scale for Children for ASD (ASC-ASD) at baseline, week 8, and week 16. A one-way repeated-measure ANOVA with post hoc analysis using Bonferroni adjustment was used to test for a significant effect for time (p < 0.05), with Cohen’s d used to calculate the effect size. For teacher-reported anxiety, there were significant decreases from baseline to week 16 for total ASC-ASD (p < 0.001), performance anxiety (p < 0.001), anxious arousal (p < 0.001), and uncertainty (p < 0.001). There was no significant decrease in parent-reported anxiety. The findings demonstrate that a 16-week exercise program can reduce anxiety in children with ASD in school settings. Results demonstrate that 16 weeks, as opposed to 8, may be necessary to have a significant effect on in-school anxiety. MDPI 2022-04-30 /pmc/articles/PMC9104305/ /pubmed/35564866 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095471 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Carey, Marie
Sheehan, Damien
Healy, Sean
Knott, Fiona
Kinsella, Sharon
The Effects of a 16-Week School-Based Exercise Program on Anxiety in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
title The Effects of a 16-Week School-Based Exercise Program on Anxiety in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
title_full The Effects of a 16-Week School-Based Exercise Program on Anxiety in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
title_fullStr The Effects of a 16-Week School-Based Exercise Program on Anxiety in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
title_full_unstemmed The Effects of a 16-Week School-Based Exercise Program on Anxiety in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
title_short The Effects of a 16-Week School-Based Exercise Program on Anxiety in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
title_sort effects of a 16-week school-based exercise program on anxiety in children with autism spectrum disorder
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9104305/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35564866
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095471
work_keys_str_mv AT careymarie theeffectsofa16weekschoolbasedexerciseprogramonanxietyinchildrenwithautismspectrumdisorder
AT sheehandamien theeffectsofa16weekschoolbasedexerciseprogramonanxietyinchildrenwithautismspectrumdisorder
AT healysean theeffectsofa16weekschoolbasedexerciseprogramonanxietyinchildrenwithautismspectrumdisorder
AT knottfiona theeffectsofa16weekschoolbasedexerciseprogramonanxietyinchildrenwithautismspectrumdisorder
AT kinsellasharon theeffectsofa16weekschoolbasedexerciseprogramonanxietyinchildrenwithautismspectrumdisorder
AT careymarie effectsofa16weekschoolbasedexerciseprogramonanxietyinchildrenwithautismspectrumdisorder
AT sheehandamien effectsofa16weekschoolbasedexerciseprogramonanxietyinchildrenwithautismspectrumdisorder
AT healysean effectsofa16weekschoolbasedexerciseprogramonanxietyinchildrenwithautismspectrumdisorder
AT knottfiona effectsofa16weekschoolbasedexerciseprogramonanxietyinchildrenwithautismspectrumdisorder
AT kinsellasharon effectsofa16weekschoolbasedexerciseprogramonanxietyinchildrenwithautismspectrumdisorder