280. The impact of sports fitness qigong on improving negative emotions and cognitive biases in college students with anxiety disorders
Year: 2026
Type: conference-abstract
Abstract: Background Due to factors such as academic pressure, interpersonal relationships, and uncertainty in future planning, anxiety disorder has become one of the main psychological barriers for college students. The intervention methods for anxiety disorders mainly include Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and medication treatment, but CBT requires professional resources and a long time, and medication treatment may have side effects. Therefore, the study aims to alleviate the negative emotions of college students with anxiety disorders through the safe physical exercise method of fitness qigong. The research aims to provide a feasible non pharmacological intervention plan for mental health education in universities. Methods The study adopted a randomized controlled trial design, in which 200 college students diagnosed with anxiety disorders who met the trial criteria were randomly divided into a control group (100) and an intervention group (100). The control group maintained their original living conditions during the 8-week trial period and did not receive any intervention. The intervention group underwent a 45 minute fitness qigong Baduanjin training course three times a week during the 8-week trial period. The course teacher is a national level fitness qigong coach with over 10 years of teaching experience. The study used SPSS 25.0 for statistical analysis of data results. The indicators are Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA), Cognitive Bias Questionnaire (CBQ), Interpretation Questionnaire (IQ). The measurement time is before intervention (T0), 8 weeks after intervention (T1), and 1 month after the end of intervention follow-up (T2). Results The repeated measures ANOVA results showed a significant interaction between HAMA score time and group (F(2,150) = 15.32, p<.001, ηp2 = 0.17). Simple effects analysis showed that the HAMA scores of the intervention group were significantly lower than those of T0 in both T1 and T2 (p<.001), and the T1 and T2 scores were significantly lower than those of the control group in the same period (p<.001). The control group showed no significant changes at the three time points (p>.05). The interaction effect of CBQ total score was significant (F(2,150) = 12.45, p<.001, ηp2 = 0.14). The total score of CBQ in the intervention group significantly decreased after the intervention (p<.001), indicating a reduction in overall cognitive bias, and the effect persisted until the follow-up period. The interaction effect of IQ positive explanation percentage is significant (F(2,150) = 18.23, p<.001, ηp2 = 0.20). The intervention group showed a significantly higher percentage of positive explanations for ambiguous situations at T1 and T2 compared to T0 (p<.001), and also significantly higher than the control group during the same period (p<.001). Discussion The intervention of fitness qigong can significantly reduce the anxiety level of college students participating in the experiment, and at the same time improve core cognitive biases such as negative attention bias and explanatory bias in college students with anxiety disorders. This study provides an effective tool for mental health work in universities. Future research can combine techniques such as electroencephalography and functional magnetic resonance imaging to directly explore the effects of qigong practice on brain network connectivity.
Source: Schizophrenia Bulletin
Author: Yefei Zhang
Institution: Shanghai University of Electric Power
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7128790309
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