Mindfulness, Movement and Mood: Combining Mindfulness and Physical Activity to Prevent Mood Disorders in Young Adults

预防和早期治疗情绪障碍（如焦虑和抑郁）是世界卫生组织的首要任务之一（世卫组织，2013年）。它们对于防止情绪障碍对年轻人生活质量的长期影响至关重要（世卫组织，2012年）。研究表明，体育活动可以帮助缓解情绪障碍的症状，并且与心理治疗（如认知行为疗法）和药物治疗（如抗抑郁药物；Hearing et al., 2016; Wegner et al., 2014）一样有效。然而，人们往往很难长时间参与体育活动，这对有情绪障碍的人来说更加困难。一个有希望的方法是练习正念。正念是一种冥想形式，专注于“集中注意力，有目的的，现在”（克雷斯韦尔，2017）。之前的一项研究表明，进行正念练习的人更热衷于减肥的体育活动计划（Schneider et al., 2019）。这可能是因为正念有助于人们思考体育活动的方式——帮助他们看到好处，保持动力，更好地忍受短暂的不适（Forman et al., 2018）。因此，我的项目旨在开发一种定制的干预措施，将正念与身体活动相结合，以帮助预防年轻人的情绪障碍。具体而言，该项目旨在：了解心理干预如何影响体育活动的参与；开发和优化将正念练习与PA相结合的数字干预；开始在随机对照可行性试验中评估新的干预措施；探讨干预对中介思维过程和行为的影响。阶段一：通过两种不同的方法建立知识基础。首先，我将回顾心理治疗在支持体育活动干预方面的作用。与此同时，一组年轻人（通过与大学学生服务中心合作招募）将被咨询他们的需求和偏好。这个基础将决定干预的优先级并指导其设计。第二阶段。一种新的数字干预将与巴斯大学的计算机科学专家合作开发。它的功能将与第一阶段制定的指导方针相对应。例如，我们可能会创建一个移动应用程序，提供个性化的体育活动目标，跟踪用户的活动，并提供量身定制的音频正念练习课程。与测试用户的访谈将为干预措施的改进提供建议。第三阶段。干预措施的初步测试将探讨其可行性（如招募率和参与率）及其对情绪障碍症状的影响。将通过与英格兰公共卫生部B&NES部门和大学学生服务部门的合作，招募有情绪障碍风险的年轻人。干预参与者将获得活动监测器和开发的智能手机应用程序，并进行为期三个月的跟踪。数据将通过智能手机和对用户的深度访谈实时收集。总的来说，该项目承诺开发一种有效的、用户定制的工具，该工具基于严格的科学，有可能极大地有益于年轻人的心理健康。它有助于未来有影响力的工作，包括在全面随机对照试验中全面测试干预措施的有效性及其传播。

Prevention and early treatment of mood disorders (such as anxiety and depression) are one of World Health Organization's top priorities (WHO, 2013). They are crucial in protecting against the long-term effects of mood disorders to young people's quality of life (WHO, 2012). Research suggests that physical activity can help the symptoms of mood disorders, and is as effective as psychological treatments (such as cognitive behavioural therapy) and pharmacological treatments (such as antidepressant medicines; Hearing et al., 2016; Wegner et al., 2014). However, people often struggle to engage with physical activity for long periods of time - and this is even harder for people with mood disorders. One promising way to help this is by practising mindfulness. Mindfulness is a form of meditation that focuses on 'paying attention, on purpose, right now' (Creswell, 2017). A previous study showed that people who conducted mindfulness practice were more engaged with a physical activity programme for weight loss (Schneider et al., 2019). This could be because mindfulness helps the way people think about physical activity - helping them see the benefits, stay motivated and better tolerate the brief discomfort (Forman et al., 2018). Therefore, my project aims to develop a bespoke intervention that combines mindfulness with physical activity to help prevent mood disorders in young adults. Specifically, the project aims to: Understand how psychological interventions affect engagement in physical activity; Develop and optimise a digital intervention combining mindfulness practice with PA; Begin evaluating the new intervention in a randomised controlled feasibility trial; Explore the intervention's effects on intermediary thought processes and behaviour. Phase I. A knowledge foundation will be built through two separate methodologies. First, I will review research on the effects of psychological therapies in support of physical activity interventions. In parallel, a group of young adults (recruited through collaboration with University's Student Services) will be consulted about their needs and preferences. This foundation will determine the intervention's priorities and guide its design. Phase II. A new digital intervention will be developed in cooperation with computer science experts at the University of Bath. Its features will correspond to the guidelines developed in Phase I. For example, we may create a mobile application giving personalised physical activity goals, tracking users' activity and providing tailored audio mindfulness practice sessions. Interviews with test users will advise improvements to the intervention. Phase III. Initial testing of the intervention will explore its feasibility (such as recruitment and engagement rates) and its effects on mood disorder symptoms. Young adults at risk for mood disorders will be recruited through collaborations with B&NES division of Public Health England and University's Student Services. Intervention participants will be given activity monitors and the developed smartphone application and tracked for a period of three months. Data will be collected in real time via smartphones and through in-depth interviews with users. Altogether, the project promises to develop an effective, user-tailored tool based on rigorous science with the potential to greatly benefit young people's mental health. It lends itself to impactful future work, including comprehensively testing the intervention's effectiveness in a full-scale randomised controlled trial and its dissemination.