Healthy pills: physical activity program for the prevention of mental health and improvement of resilience in university students. intervention protocol

Abstract

The mental health (MH) of the university population has become a serious public health problem, which is why it is necessary to design programs and policies that provide a solution to this situation from the public institutions of higher education. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine if significant changes are produced in psychological aspects of university students, after an intervention based on physical activity (PA) with aerobic and cardiovascular capacity activities, physical fitness activities and meditation activities through yoga, inner gymnastics and mindfulness. The sample will consist of 136 college students in the fourth year of primary education degree, between 21 and 25 years. This work presents a quasi-experimental design with a control group and an experimental group, employing repeated measures pretest and posttest. The intervention period will last 12 weeks, over 3 months, with a weekly session of 40 minutes. Validated questionnaires on PA (IPAQ-SF), SM (DASS-21), self-esteem (Rosenberg Scale), mood (POMS), personality factors (BFI-44) and resilience (CD-RISC) and a satisfaction questionnaire were administered. It is hoped that these results can have a significant impact on higher education and serve as a starting point to ensure the holistic health and well-being of university students.