Effects of School-based Yoga Program on University Students

NCT05316285 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: E-10840098-772.02-1950
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 61
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Focusing on emotions is valuable because "how a person feels, reacts, and expresses emotions can have both short-term and long-term effects on physical and mental health". This is explained by mechanisms such as reappraisal, attention regulation, self-monitoring, self-awareness, and regulation of the autonomic nervous system. Because yoga reduces negative emotions such as anxiety, anger, and depression, teens are likely to result in less conflict and stress in their lives. It is thought that it is also important for young people to accept difficult feelings and to be able to accept and approve these feelings. When negative emotions are acknowledged and witnessed, they often dissolve or transform, and the process allows the individual to learn about their limits, preferences, and needs. Processing emotions in this way allows a person to be honest with oneself and can contribute to healthier development. Therefore, yoga appears to be a useful well-being tool and practice that schools should adopt, as it can increase life skills for students such as concentration, memory, relational skills, and decision-making that are affected by emotions. Emotional well-being is important for learning in life and school. As noted earlier, research supports such a view, but more research is needed to understand how and why yoga should be offered to young people in their schools. However, it is suggested that researchers further explore the role of yoga in the management of emotions, both in terms of emotional processing and regulation of emotions. The role of yogic breathing (pranayama) as part of a holistic perspective on yoga, and specifically the role of yoga in the relationship between being with emotions, regulating emotions, and how it relates to change, should be further explored. It has been described in the literature that care should be taken to avoid possible harm to individuals associated with the use of unhealthy weight control behaviors among young adults and women with obesity. Yoga's intent to strengthen and support a positive sense of self makes it a particularly viable strategy for healthy weight management for women and those at high risk for poor body image. Finally, it has been reported that reductions in perceived stress may mediate the effects of participation in a yoga program on negative emotional and behavioral problems. It has been suggested that future studies may also assess the extent to which exposure to stress and trauma may affect youth's participation in and benefit from mindfulness and yoga interventions. Considering all the suggestions and research needs in the literature, this study was planned to examine the improvement in self-esteem, life satisfaction, body image, anxiety, depression and cognitive emotion regulation levels of university students after their participation in the yoga program provided to them in the school environment and to compare them with students who do not do yoga. In the study, it is planned to investigate the pre-exam anxiety levels of university youth who regularly practice yoga.

Conditions

Yoga; Adolescent Behavior; Emotional Regulation; Mental Health; Eating Behaviors; Well-being

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (7)

• Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire

  Consisting of 36 items, the scale has nine subscales. Each subscale consists of four items. The five-point Likert-type scale is evaluated between 1 (never) and 5 (always). The score of each subscale varies between 4 and 20 and scoring is done accordingly. High scores obtained from the subscales indicate that the strategy determined by that subscale is used more.

  up to 14 weeks

• The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)

  The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) is a commonly used measure of trait and state anxiety. It can be used in clinical settings to diagnose anxiety and to distinguish it from depressive syndromes. It also is often used in research as an indicator of caregiver distress. Form Y, its most popular version, has 20 items for assessing trait anxiety and 20 for state anxiety. State anxiety items include: "I am tense; I am worried" and "I feel calm; I feel secure." Trait anxiety items include: "I worry too much over something that really doesn't matter" and "I am content; I am a steady person." All items are rated on a 4-point scale (e.g., from "Almost Never" to "Almost Always"). Higher scores indicate greater anxiety. The STAI is appropriate for those who have at least a sixth-grade reading level.

  up to 14 weeks

• Body Cathexis Scale (BCS)

  The form includes 40 items, each of which is related with an organ or a body zone (arm, leg, face, etc.) or with a function. Each item is rated between 1 and 5 points ("don't like at all," "don't like," "undecided," "like," and "like very much"), resulting in a total score between 40 and 200. The total score corresponds to the level of satisfaction with one's own body.

  up to 14 weeks

• Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS)

  Subjective well-being is conceptualised as consisting of two major components: the emotional or affective component and the judgment or cognitive component. The SWLS was designed to measure the judgment component. Scores consist of a raw score (between 5 and 35). Higher scores represent higher life satisfaction. Scorers can be assigned into six well-being categories and interpretative text in provided for each.

  up to 14 weeks

• Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES):

  It consists of 10 items in total, 5 of which are positive expressions and 5 negative. Scores are given from "strongly disagree" (0) to "strongly agree" (3). A high total score demonstrated high self-esteem, a low score low self-esteem.

  up to 14 weeks

• Test Anxiety Inventory

  TAI was designed to measure anxiety in high school and university students. It consists of two subgroups: measurement of worry (TAI-W) and measurement of emotional distress (TAI-E). There are eight items in TAI-W, the inventory for measuring worry, eight items in TAI-E, the subscale focusing emotionality, and four items in TAI-T, a subscale for measuring total anxiety score. The respondents choose from the following options in Likert's four point scale: (1) almost never, (2) sometimes, (3) often, or (4) almost always. The values of the Cronbach Alpha coefficient of the original TAI were as follows: 0.96 for TAI-T, 0.91 for TAI-W, and 0.91 for TAI-E.

  up to 14 weeks

• Three-factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ-R21)

  The TFEQ-R21 (see Appendix) asks participants to respond to 21 questions on a four-point Likert scale for items 1-20 and on an eight-point numerical rating scale for item 21. Responses to each of the items are given a score between 1 and 4. Before calculating domain scores, items 1-16 were reverse coded and item 21 was recoded as follows: 1-2 scores as 1; 3-4 as 2; 5-6 as 3; 7-8 as 4. Domain scores were then calculated as a mean of all items within each domain; hence, domain scores also ranged from 1 to 4 (CR (six items), UE (nine items) and EE (six items)), with higher scores being indicative of greater CR, UE and EE.

  up to 14 weeks

Study Arms (2)

Yoga Group

EXPERIMENTAL

It will consist of students who choose the Yoga for a Healthy Life lesson. For 14 weeks, one day a week and 60 minutes a day, theoretical and practical yoga training will be applied.

Other: Yoga exercise

Control Group

NO INTERVENTION

The control group will consist of students who chose the Fashion and Beauty lesson.

Interventions

Yoga exercise OTHER

Yoga lesson practices will be designed and implemented by instructors physiotherapists who have completed 200 hours of yoga instructor training (RYT-200). The yoga program, which will consist of one-hour sessions once a week, is planned to last 14 weeks. 4 weeks of classes will be theoretical lessons related to yoga philosophy, 10 weeks of yoga sessions will be applied every week on different concepts such as upper extremity and / or lower extremity focused strengthening and / or flexibility and breathing exercises. In addition to this training, students will be advised to repeat the practices once a week. Sessions will begin with breathing practices called pranayama, followed by yoga postures called asanas, and the sequence will be finished with savasana pose. In this pose, guided meditations will be performed on subjects such as body awareness and self-compassion.

Yoga Group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 19 Years - 24 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• students of Istanbul Medipol University,
• filling out all the scale questions
• agree to participate in the study

You may not qualify if:

• pregnancy
• having mental problems perceiving verbal commands
• having a concomitant disease that will hinder exercise and physical activity

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Medipol University: lead

Study Sites (1)

İstanbul Medipol University

Istanbul, 34815, Turkey (Türkiye)

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Adolescent Behavior; Emotional Regulation; Psychological Well-Being; Feeding Behavior

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior; Self-Control; Social Behavior; Personal Satisfaction; Behavior, Animal

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 30, 2022
• First Posted: April 7, 2022
• Study Start: February 11, 2023
• Primary Completion: February 20, 2023
• Study Completion: February 1, 2024
• Last Updated: July 30, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-07

Locations

TU (1)