Evaluation of the Mat Pilates Method on mental health and on the quality of life of university students: a Randomized Clinical Trial

INTERVENTION: E02.779.474 This is a two‐arm, single‐blind, randomized controlled clinical trial. Participants will be invited to participate in the study and will fill out: Free and Informed Consent Form; Form containing sociodemographic and clinical questions; the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS‐21) and the World Health Organization (WHOQOL–bref) instrument for assessing quality of life. Then, the subjects will be randomized to compose the experimental group and the control group by a researcher blinded to the intervention. Experimental group: approximately 100 university students in the health area who will receive 16 sessions of a Pilates mat training program (containing 12 exercises), applied by qualified physiotherapist researchers (blind to randomization), with each session lasting 50 minutes, twice a week, on alternate days for eight weeks. Control Group: approximately 100 health university students who will not receive the intervention and who have no contact with the Pilates method during the study (eight weeks). After eight weeks, both groups will fill in the sociodemographic and clinical form again; the DASS‐21 Scale and the WHOQOL–bref instrument. The application of the questionnaires will be carried out by a researcher blinded to the intervention. CONDITION: I01.800 Stress, Psychological; Anxiety Disorders; Depression PRIMARY OUTCOME: Normal scores for depression, anxiety and stress measured by the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS‐21). SECONDARY OUTCOME: Normal scores for quality of life measured by the WHOQOL–bref instrument. INCLUSION CRITERIA: University students regularly enrolled in undergraduate courses in the health area at UFTM, who have attended at least two consecutive terms; Age equal to or greater than 18 years; Not having been pregnant or giving birth in the last si Xmonths; Not having had previous contact with the Pilates Method in the last three month.