اثر تمرینات یوگا بر کارکردهای اجرایی بیماران اسکیزوفرنی

زمینه و هدف: تحقیقات مختلف نشان می‌‌دهند که تمرینات یوگا بر پیشرفت کارکردهای شناختی این افراد اثرگذار است؛ زیرا یوگا می‌تواند تغییراتی را در ساختار مغزی آن‌ها به‌وجود آورد، تحقیق حاضر با هدف تعیین تاثیر تمرینات یوگا بر کارکردهای اجرایی بیماران اسکیزوفرنی انجام شد.روش‌بررسی: این تحقیق از نوع نیمه‌تجربی بود. شرکت‌کنندگان 24 بیمار زن اسکیزوفرنی شهر اصفهان بودند که به‌صورت دردسترس انتخاب شده و به‌طور تصادفی در دو گروه تجربی (پانزده نفر) و کنترل (نُه نفر) تقسیم شدند. گروه تجربی علاوه‌بر درمان‌های مرسوم، به‌مدت بیست هفته تمرینات یوگا را به‌مدت پنج ماه به‌صورت سه جلسه در هفته انجام داد. از آزمون ویسکانسین جهت سنجش کارکردهای اجرایی استفاده شد. داده‌ها با استفاده از آنالیز واریانس با اندازه‌های تکراری تحلیل شدند.یافته‌ها: یافته‌ها نشان داد که در گروه مداخله میانگین نمرات درجاماندگی و تعداد پاسخ‌های درست و نادرست و مدت زمان کوشش برای تکمیل الگو پس از مداخله درمقایسه با پیش‌آزمون‌ بهبود معناداری داشته است (0٫05>p)؛ همچنین با قطع مداخله، در مرحلهٔ پیگیری تفاوت معناداری با بلافاصله پس از مداخله مشاهده نشده است که نشان از پایداری اثر مداخله دارد؛ درحالی‌که در گروه کنترل بین سه مرحلهٔ پیش‌آزمون‌ و پس‌آزمون و پیگیری تفاوت معناداری دیده نمی‌شود (0٫05>p).نتیجه‌گیری: یافته‌های تحقیق اثر سودمند تمرینات یوگا را بر بهبود کارکردهای اجرایی بیماران اسکیزوفرنی نشان می‌‌دهد.

yoga exercises on executive functions among individuals with schizophrenia

background & objectives: the current study aimed to determine the effect of yoga exercises on executive functions among individuals with schizophrenia. deficits in cognitive abilities are widely recognized as a core feature of schizophrenia. among the cognitive impairments, executive functions have a more effective role in limiting the ability of patients to maintain and relearn the skills required to operate in the real world. studies indicated that practicing yoga could improve abstraction and mental flexibility, spatial processing, working memory, spatial memory, emotion processing, attention and recall. besides, it could reduce reaction times and increase accuracy in executive function tasks in various settings. accordingly, in the present study, the researchers provided a yoga intervention program to patients with schizophrenia, assuming that by practicing this course, the study subjects could improve their executive functions.methods: this was a quasi–experimental study with a pretest–posttest and a control group design. it was conducted on 24 patients with schizophrenia (adult females) in isfahan city, iran. the study participants were randomly assigned into two groups of experimental and control. the experimental group underwent a 20–week yoga training. wisconsin software was used to evaluate the executive functions of studied samples. a repeated–measures analysis of variance (anova) was applied to analyze the collected data.results: according to the repeated–measures anova results of the preservative variable, the interaction between time and group (f44,2 =3.417, p=0.042, h=0.134) was significant at the error level of 5%. the bonferroni post–hoc test data revealed that the mean score in the intervention group was significantly higher in pretest than the posttest (p=0.001) and follow–up (p=0.049) phases; however, there was no significant difference between the results of posttest and follow–up (p=0.624) in this group. these results highlight the effectiveness of the intervention on reducing the preservative variable immediately after the intervention as well as its stability after the intervention. in the “correct answers” variable, the interaction between the experimental group and the time scale (f44, 2=5.171, p=0.010, h=0.190) was significant at the error level of 5%. the bonferroni post–hoc test data in the intervention group indicated that the mean number of correct answers in the pretest was significantly less than that of the posttest (p=0.003) and follow–up (p=0.008) in the study participants. furthermore, there was no significant difference (p=0.001) between the mean score of correct answers in posttest and follow–up stages in them. therefore, the intervention effectively increased the number of correct answers and this effect continued after the completion of intervention. in the incorrect answer variable, the interaction between the experimental group and the time scale (f44,2=5.329, p=0.008, h=0.195) was significant at the error level of 5%. the bonferroni post–hoc test findings manifested that in the intervention group, the mean frequency of incorrect answers in the pretest was significantly less than that of the posttest (p=0.001) and follow–up (p=0.007) stages. besides, there was no significant difference between the mean frequency of correct answers in posttest and follow–up stages (p=0.001). therefore, the intervention was effective in reducing the frequency of correct answers; this effectiveness remained stable after the interruption of intervention. regarding the required time of attempt completion, the interaction between the experimental group and the time scale (f 44.2=6.140, p=0.004, h=0.218) was significant at the error level of 5%. the bonferroni post–hoc test results in the intervention group revealed a significantly higher mean time in the pretest than the posttest (p<0.001) and follow–up (p<0.001) phases.