THE EFFECT OF A GOAL SETTING EXERCISE PROGRAM ON IMPROVING UPPER BODY STRENGTH, LOWER EXTREMITY STRENGTH, BALANCE AND COMMITMENT TO EXERCISE OF PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA

The purpose was to examine the effect of goal setting on improving upper body strength, lower extremity strength and balance of individuals with schizophrenia and to monitor the effect of goal setting toward commitment to exercise of schizophrenia patients. The sample consisted of four patients with schizophrenia, aged 48 to 58 years old, all randomly selected and separated into two groups (control and experiment). All patients were already involved in exercising twice per week of 45 minutes each session, within psychiatry hospital premises. Additional goals for experimental group individuals included two extra 10-15 minutes of workout per week to improve post measure results. Instruments used prior and after the application of the goal setting intervention program included the Five times sit to stand test, the Arm curl test and the Time up and go test. Results showed that participants of the experiment group improved their performance in all post measures while control group individuals also improved their scores in two out of the three tests used in this study. Although no generalizations can be made due to the small sample of this study, goal setting seems to have the potential to promote exercise commitment and adoption in patients with schizophrenia.  Article visualizations

Physical activity, subjective well-being and anxiousness among disabled people

V magistrski nalogi nas je zanimal odnos med ravnjo športnega udejstvovanja (tekmovalno in rekreativno) in subjektivnim blagostanjem ter anksioznostjo pri invalidih s prirojeno in pridobljeno invalidnostjo. Ker so bili invalidi z različnim izvorom invalidnosti izpostavljeni različnim življenjskim okoliščinam, smo v magistrski nalogi preverili tudi, ali se interakcije med izvorom invalidnosti in ravnjo športnega udejstvovanja pri različnih lestvicah pokažejo kot pomembni napovedniki merjenih komponent. Preko spletne ankete in papirne različice vprašalnika smo zbrali podatke 266 invalidov, v povprečju starih 45 let (41 % žensk), od tega 180 (68 %) s pridobljeno invalidnostjo in 109 (41 %) tekmovalno športno aktivnih. Udeleženci so izpolnili vprašalnike o zadovoljstvu z življenjem, anksioznosti kot osebnostni potezi in psihološkem blagostanju. Za obdelavo podatkov smo uporabili hierarhično regresijsko analizo, pri čemer smo v prvem koraku v modele dodali spol, starost in izobrazbo udeležencev, v drugem raven športnega udejstvovanja in izvor invalidnosti, v tretjem pa interakcijo med tema dvema spremenljivkama. Rezultati raziskave so pokazali, da so starejši udeleženci poročali o statistično značilno nižji osebnostni rasti, smislu življenja, medosebnih odnosih in zadovoljstvu z življenjem. Moški so poročali o statistično značilno večjem smislu življenja, višje izobraženi invalidi pa o statistično značilno večjem občutku avtonomnosti. Omenjene demografske spremenljivke so ob upoštevanju interakcije med izvorom invalidnosti in ravnjo športnega udejstvovanja večinoma izgubile napovedno moč za subjektivno blagostanje in anksioznost kot osebnostno potezo. Interakcija se je na vseh lestvicah subjektivnega blagostanja (ne pa tudi anksioznosti kot osebnostne poteze), razen na lestvici osebnostne rasti, pokazala kot najpomembnejši in statistično značilen napovednik. Ugotovitve hierarhične regresijske analize kažejo, da predpostavljeni modeli pojasnijo zelo majhen, a statistično značilen delež variance (od 3 do 6 %). Preučevanja povezanosti interakcije tema dvema demografskima spremenljivkama s subjektivnim blagostanjem nismo zasledili v nobeni izmed preteklih raziskav in rezultati tako odpirajo številna nova vprašanja za prihodnje raziskave.In the master\u27s thesis we explored the relationship between the level of sports participation (competitive and recreational) and subjective well-being and anxiety in people with congenital and acquired disabilities. Because disabled people with different sources of disability were exposed to different life circumstances, we examined also whether the interactions between the different sources of disability and the level of sports participation on different scales prove to be important predictors of measured components. Through an online survey and a paper version of the questionnaire, we collected data from 266 disabled people, on average 45 years old (41% women), of which 180 (68%) with acquired disabilities and 109 (41%) competitively active in sports. Participants completed questionnaires on life satisfaction, anxiety as a personality trait, and psychological well-being. We used hierarchical regression analysis to process the data, adding gender, age and education of participants to the models in the first step, the level of sports participation and the origin of disability in the second, and the interaction between these two variables in the third. The results of the study showed that older participants reported statistically significantly lower personal growth, life meaning, interpersonal relationships, and life satisfaction. Men reported a statistically significantly greater sense of life, and highly educated disabled people reported a statistically significantly greater sense of autonomy. Given the interaction between the source of disability and the level of sports participation, these demographic variables have largely lost their predictive power for subjective well-being and anxiety as a personality trait. The interaction proved to be the most important and statistically significant predictor on all scales of subjective well-being (but not anxiety as a personality trait), except on the scale of personality growth. The findings of the hierarchical regression analysis show that the assumed models explain a very small but statistically significant proportion of variance (3 to 6%). The study of the relationship between the interaction of these two demographic variables with subjective well-being has not been found in any of the previous research, and the results thus open up a number of new questions for future research