An Intervention Study of Traditional Chinese Medicine Exercise Ba Duan Jin on College Students' Depression

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to alleviate depression in college students, investigate the role of Ba duanjin in alleviating depression in college student groups, and give experience for expanding domestic mental health theories and intervention methods. College students exhibiting symptoms of depression were identified using the Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), with a total score between 50-70 serving as the screening criterion. Participants meeting the criteria were randomly assigned to either the experimental group or the control group. The experimental group underwent an eight-week intervention involving Ba Duan Jin exercise, whereas the control group received no specific intervention. The level of depressive symptoms among the college students was assessed using the SDS before and after the intervention. The SDS scores of the experimental group showed a statistically significant decrease compared to the pre-intervention scores (P < 0.05). Additionally, the post-intervention SDS scores of the experimental group were significantly lower than those of the control group (P < 0.05). These findings indicate that the prescribed Ba Duan Jin exercise effectively improves depression and reduces psychological pressure among college students. This highlights the potential of Ba Duan Jin exercise as an intervention for addressing depression in the college student population.