Table 2.
General overview of non-interventional studies (n = 5).
| S.no. | Title and date | Objective(s) of the study | Population characteristics | Mental health and wellbeing measures | Key findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (1) | Regular exercise and depressive symptoms in community-dwelling elders in Northern Taiwan [1] 2016 | To examine the association between regular exercise and depressive symptoms in community-dwelling older adults in Taiwan. | The study participants were older adults aged 65 years and above, living in northern Taiwan. The community-dwelling older adults were selected using probability-proportional-to-size procedure. One thousand and twenty individuals completed the questionnaires. | Center for epidemiological studies depression scale (CES-D) was used to measure degree of depression symptoms. | Regular exercise was the only factor significantly related to a lack of depressive symptoms, both for male and female older adults. |
| (2) | Depression and its association with functional status and physical activity in the elderly in Karachi, Pakistan [17] 2015 | To determine the functional status and level of physical activty and their association with depression in the elderly population. | The study participants were older adults aged 60 years and above living in Karachi, Pakistan. Nine hundred and fifty three individuals were selected using mult-stage cluster sampling in Karachi, Pakistan. | Depression was assessed by the 15-item geriatric depression scale. | Male older adults were more physically active than female counterparts. Participants spending more than 310 min (>5.2 h) per week in physical activity were 60% less likely to be depressed compared to those who spent less than 120 min (<2 h) per week. Strong association was observed between depression and time spent in physical activity. |
| (3) | Physical activity and depressive symptoms in older adults: 11-year follow-up [18] 2011 | To examine the reciprocal associations between changes in physical activity and depressive symptoms among older adults. | The analyses in this study were based on the data from the Taiwan's health and living status of the elderly survey collected in 1996, 1999, 2003 and 2007. Data representing a cohort of 1160 senior adults aged 67 years and above in 1996 were studies with 11 years of follow-up. | The 10-item Chinese version of original 20-item centre for epidemiologic studies-depression scale was used to assess symptoms of depression. | Levels of physical activity were negatively associated with changes in depressive symptoms (p < 0.05) while early depressive symptoms were not related to changes in physical activity (p < 0.05) |
| (4) | The relationship between exercise participation and wellbeing of the retired elderly [8] 2011 | To identifiy the relationship between physical exercise and the feelings of wellbeing among retired senior adults. | Quota sampling method was adopted to choose the respondents in this face-to-face survey. Three hundred and fifty two questionnaires were collected from selected parks in Taipei, Taiwan for analysis. | The general wellbeing (GWB) schedule developed by Dupuy was used to measure the wellbeing of the participants. | Exercise frequency had a significant positive effect on wellbeing and three dimensions of depression; positive wellbeing and vitality. A negative correlation was observed between wellbeing and exercise intensity. The older adults felt more comfortable and gained more pleasure psychologically while participating in less intensive exercise. |
| (5) | The health benefits following regular ongoing exercise lifestyle in independent community-dwelling older Taiwanese adults [5] 2010 | To examine the effect of regular ongoing exercise lifestyle on mental and physical health. | One hundred and ninety seven older adults aged 60 years and above were recruited in this prospective longitudinal follow-up study. Measurements were made at baseline and in a 2-year follow-up assessment. The participants in this Taiwanese study were selected from local community centres. | Chinese version of the mini-mental status examination (C-MMSE) and a Chinese version of the geriatric depression scale (C-GDS) were used to assess mental health. | Regular exercise group were less depressed (p = 0.03) and tended to regress less on the performance tests (p= 0.025–0.410) across 2 years compared to the irregular exercise group. |