The Effect of aerobics on mild depression in Children with Cancer

Background and Objective: Cancer is one of the chronic diseases with increasing prevalence in children that has many psychological outcomes one of these consequences is depression. This study was conducted to determine the effect of aerobics on mild depression in children with cancer.

Materials and Method: The current research was a quasi-experimental study. Study population was all of the 7-12 years old children with cancer who were hospitalized in the oncology ward of the one of the hospitals in Tehran in 2014. Depression in children was measured through Kovacs’ “Children Depression Inventory and 31 eligible children were selected through convenience sampling. Intervention was done as 6 group sessions of 45 minutes with the implementation of aerobics in playroom. Depression of children was measured again in the last day of intervention (sixth day) and also three weeks later. The data were analyzed through using repeated measures ANOVA, independent T-test, Pearson’s correlation and one-way ANOVA in the SPSS18.

Results: The results showed that the mean score of depression in children has significantly decreased after the intervention (8.64 ± 1.63) and three weeks later (8.35 ± 2.11) in compare with the before the intervention (11.71 ± 1.94) (P < 0.001).

Conclusion: The results revealed that the aerobics as a non-pharmacological intervention can reduce the mild depression in children with cancer. Therefore, it is recommended to restore the health and vitality of hospitalized children.