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CompletedNCT01536756Updated Jan 23, 2020

Effectiveness of a Structured Physical Rehabilitation Program for Chinese Patients With Depressive Disorders

An interventional study of Exercise Intervention -- Physical Rehabilitation Program and Wait List Control Group in Depressive Disorders, sponsored by Kowloon Hospital, Hong Kong. Completed at 2 sites in China. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 64 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2020-01-23.

Sponsored by Kowloon Hospital, Hong Kong · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
84
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 64 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Evidence shows that depression was found to be associated with physical inactivity and on the other hand, high prevalence of depression was also found in patients with chronic pain. Structured physical rehabilitation program with exercises as main component and pain management provided by physiotherapy has been proved by overseas studies to be effective in reducing the psychological symptoms of depression through increasing the physical fitness and relieving the pain. Literatures also reported a strong sociocultural influence on the prevalence of depression and the manifestations of their clinical signs and symptoms in patients suffered from mental health problems between Chinese and Western societies. The benefits of physical rehabilitation program in the management of depression cannot be assumed in the Chinese population. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of a structured "Physical Rehabilitation Program" for Chinese patients diagnosed with depressive disorder (mild to severe severity) on the physical fitness and negative psychological symptoms of the recruited patients.

The Hypothesis are:

  1. The Physical Rehabilitation Program is effective in improving the physical fitness in Chinese patients with depressive disorders.
  2. The Physical Rehabilitation Program is effective in alleviating the negative psychological symptoms in Chinese patients with depressive disorders.
Read the detailed description

Eighty-four Chinese patients who are diagnosed as depressive disorders with age between 18 and 64 years old, fulfilling the inclusion criteria (stated at the attached study proposal) will be recruited for a 12-week physical rehabilitation program with forty-two patients for the intervention group (n=42) and equal sample size for the control group (patient put on the waiting list for the Physical Rehabilitation Program). All patients will be allocated to either the intervention group or control group by computer generated block randomization with block size of 6 persons using StatsDirect Software, version 2.7.8. The subjects of the control group will be asked to maintain their usual activities while awaiting for the physical rehabilitation program at the 12-week waiting time. They will be allowed to receive any other usual medical services including social services and psychotherapy but not physiotherapy services. At the end of the 3rd month, the control group will be recruited into the Physical Rehabilitation Program. Patients in the control group will then join in as the intervention group and follow the intervention and assessment protocol. All the patients will be instructed not to disclose their grouping to the assessor. Sub-group analysis will be conducted for further in-depth analysis of the subjects in the intervention group having clinical manifestations of pain interference as triage by the 7 items in Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) - short form - Chinese version. Outcome measures on the physical and mental domains will be conducted: at baseline (T1-before commencement of program), end of the 3rd month (T2-end of program for intervention group; end of the waiting time of control group), 12 months (T3-one year long term follow-up for the intervention group). Validity and reliability of all the adopted outcome measures were reported in medical literatures. There is no reported harmful effect on all interventions and there is no pain or discomfort for all of the testing procedures. Physical outcome measures include body composition (body mass index, percentage of body fat); flexibility (sit and reach flexibility); muscular endurance (1-minute sit-up count); muscle strength (hand grip strength, isometric quadriceps strength); cardiovascular endurance (maximal oxygen consumption) and physical functioning (Brief Pain Inventory- Chinese version). Mental outcome measures include depression, anxiety \& stress (Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS-21) - Chinese version); depression (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale- Chinese version) and self-esteem (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale- Chinese version). The findings will serve as pilot program for rolling out of the services for Chinese patients with depressive disorders to other clusters / hospital and reference base for future territory-wide profile study on this clientele and randomized controlled trials.

02

Conditions studied

  • Depressive Disorders

Keywords

  • Depressive disorder
  • exercise
  • pain
  • physical
  • psychological
  • Chinese
  • mild to severe depressive disorders
03

In context

Depressive Disorder

4,845 studies on the registry are indexed under Depressive Disorder; 514 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 84 is close to the median of 80 across 3,999 interventional studies indexed under Depressive Disorder.

Browse Depressive Disorder studies →

Lead sponsor

Kowloon Hospital, Hong Kong is the lead sponsor of 9 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 64 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  1. Ages between 18 and 64 Chinese adults with diagnosed depressive disorders of mild to severe severity (Diagnostic code: F32.0 to F33.9 under International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision) as referred from the Department of Psychiatry of Kowloon Hospital or Kwai Chung Hospital;
  2. Able to read, write and understand Chinese;
  3. Mentally capable of making written consent for participation of the study.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Unstable medical and/or psychological states such as suicidal risk and aggressive impulses, or severe cognitive, language, or hearing deficits;
  2. Orthopaedic problems or other diseases which limit physical fitness assessment.
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Single (Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
84 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Exercise Intervention -- Physical Rehabilitation Program

    Other: Exercise Intervention -- Physical Rehabilitation Program

  • Other
    Wait List Control Group

    Other: Wait List Control Group

Interventions

  • OtherExercise Intervention -- Physical Rehabilitation Program

    The intervention group will participate in a "Physical Rehabilitation Program" which includes a 60-minute training session at a frequency of 3 times a week over a total of 12-week duration. The training session consists of 45 minutes of warm-up stretching and circuit training. This includes 3 stations of aerobic exercises for physical work up of different body parts, and 3 stations of strengthening exercises of major muscles groups at 3 sets of 10 repetitions. The final 15-minute training session will be the cooling down exercise with emphasis on stress management incorporating mindful breathing, stretching and body awareness exercise.

  • OtherWait List Control Group

    The subjects of the control group will be asked to maintain their usual activities while awaiting for the physical rehabilitation program at the 12-week waiting time. They will be allowed to receive any other usual medical services including social services and psychotherapy but not physiotherapy services. At the end of the 3rd month, the control group will be recruited into the Physical Rehabilitation Program. Patients in the control group will then join in as the intervention group and follow the intervention and assessment protocol.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Change from Baseline in Body Composition at 3 months and 12 months

    Body Mass Index \& Percentage of Body Fat

    Time frame: Baseline, 3 months and 12 months

  2. Change from Baseline in Flexibility at 3 months and 12 months

    Sit and Reach Flexibility

    Time frame: Baseline, 3 months and 12 months

  3. Change from Baseline in Muscle Strength at 3 months and 12 months

    Hand Grip Strength \& Quadriceps Strength

    Time frame: Baseline, 3 months and 12 months

  4. Change from Baseline in Muscular Endurance at 3 months and 12 months

    One-Minute Sit-up Count

    Time frame: Baseline, 3 months and 12 months

  5. Change from Baseline in Cardiovascular Endurance at 3 months and 12 months

    Maximal Oxygen Consumption

    Time frame: Baseline, 3 months and 12 months

  6. Change from Baseline in Physical Functioning at 3 months and 12 months

    pain interference score of Brief Pain Inventory- Chinese version

    Time frame: Baseline, 3 months and 12 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. Change from Baseline in Depression, Anxiety and Stress at 3 months and 12 months

    Depression Anxiety Stress Scale - 21 - Chinese Version

    Time frame: Baseline, 3 months and 12 months

  2. Change from Baseline in Depression at 3 months and 12 months

    Hamilton Depression Rating Scale- Chinese version

    Time frame: Baseline, 3 months and 12 months

  3. Change from Baseline in Self-esteem at 3 months and 12 months

    Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale- Chinese version

    Time frame: Baseline, 3 months and 12 months

07

Study locations

2 sites
  • Physiotherapy Department, Kowloon Hospital
    Hong Kong, China
  • Physiotherapy Department, Kwai Chung Hospital
    Hong Kong, China
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Chau RMW, Tsui AYY, Wong EYW, Cheung EYY, Chan DYC, Lau PMY, Ng RMK. Effectiveness of a structured physical rehabilitation program on the physical fitness, mental health and pain for Chinese patients with major depressive disorders in Hong Kong - a randomized controlled trial with 9-month follow-up outcomes. Disabil Rehabil. 2022 Apr;44(8):1294-1304. doi: 10.1080/09638288.2020.1800833. Epub 2020 Aug 8. PubMed 32772583 ↗
09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jan 23, 2020, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT01536756
Lead sponsor
Kowloon Hospital, Hong Kong
Collaborators
Kwai Chung Hospital, Hong Kong
Responsible party
Dr. Lau Mo Yee Polly (Cluster Manager (Physiotherapy), Kowloon Central Cluster, Kowloon Hospital, Hong Kong) — Principal investigator
First posted
Feb 22, 2012
Start date
Feb 2012
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2015
Completion
Dec 31, 2015
Last update
Jan 23, 2020

Study contacts

Mo Yee P Lau, DHSc
principal investigator · Kowloon Hospital, Hong Kong

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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