Targeted exercise interventions on stress, anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders in PhD students

Table 1 Results of Kendall’s W test for inter-rater agreement

Number of experts	Comparison of intervention methods	Number of evaluations	Kendall W	χ2	df	P value
24	Targeted exercise vs Tai Chi	7	0.859	123.726	6	0.000

Table 2 Baseline demographic characteristics, n (%)

Characteristic	Targeted exercise	Tai Chi	χ2/t	P value
Sex
Female	20 (62.50)	17 (53.13)	0.577	0.631
Male	12 (37.50)	15 (46.87)
Age (year), mean ± SD	30.16 ± 1.97	30.19 ± 2.05	-0.062	0.951
Smoking
Yes	21 (65.63)	18 (56.25)	0.591	0.442
No	11 (34.37)	14 (43.75)
Doctoral stage
Year 2	9 (28.13)	8 (25.00)	0.296	0.874
Year 3	12 (37.50)	11 (34.37)
Year 4	11 (34.37)	13 (40.63)
BMI, mean ± SD	24.38 ± 3.26	24.34 ± 2.84	0.041	0.967
Drinking
Drinking	22 (68.75)	19 (59.38)	0.611	0.434
Never	10 (31.25)	13 (40.62)
PSQI, mean ± SD	11.16 ± 1.46	11.09 ± 1.51	0.168	0.867
GAD-7, mean ± SD	14.03 ± 1.33	14.00 ± 1.32	0.094	0.925
PSS, mean ± SD	28.94 ± 1.85	28.34 ± 2.03	1.225	0.225

BMI: Body mass index; GAD-7: Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale; PSQI: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; PSS: Perceived Stress Scale.

Table 3 Analysis of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Insomnia Severity Index, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index

Measurement	mean ± SD		Cohen’s d	Mean difference (95%CI)	P values
	Targeted exercise	Tai Chi			Group effect	Time effect	Interaction effect
ESS
Baseline	11.81 ± 1.87	11.50 ± 1.88	0.16	0.31 (-0.63 to 1.26)	0.001	0.001	0.001
8 weeks	6.81 ± 1.40	10.38 ± 1.21	-2.73	-3.56 (-4.20 to-2.94)
12 weeks	9.25 ± 1.37	10.93 ± 1.29	-1.26	-1.69 (-2.32 to -0.98)
ISI
Baseline	17.69 ± 1.33	17.44 ± 1.72	0.16	0.25 (-0.51 to 0.99)	0.001	0.001	0.009
8 weeks	10.66 ± 1.29	12.78 ± 1.58	-1.47	-2.13 (-2.87 to -1.42)
12 weeks	11.63 ± 1.49	15.03 ± 1.59	-2.21	-3.41 (-4.19 to -2.66)
PSQI
Baseline	11.16 ± 1.46	11.09 ± 1.51	0.05	0.06 (-0.65 to 0.87)	0.001	0.001	0.019
8 weeks	5.97 ± 1.59	8.97 ± 1.53	-1.92	-3.00 (-3.75 to -2.53)
12 weeks	6.56 ± 1.46	10.84 ± 1.63	-2.77	-4.28 (-5.06 to -3.59)

CI: Confidence interval; ESS: Epworth Sleepiness Scale; ISI: Insomnia Severity Index; PSQI: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index.

Table 4 Analysis of the Perceived Stress Scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale, and Patient Health Questionnaire-9

Measurement	mean ± SD		Cohen’s d	Mean difference (95%CI)	P values
	Targeted exercise	Tai Chi			Group effect	Time effect	Interaction effect
PSS
Baseline	28.93 ± 1.85	28.34 ± 2.03	0.30	0.59 (-0.39 to 1.57)	0.001	0.001	0.013
8 weeks	13.13 ± 1.84	16.09 ± 1.86	-1.60	-2.96 (-3.91 to -2.06)
12 weeks	14.31 ± 2.02	19.03 ± 1.82	-2.46	-4.72 (-5.62 to -3.76)
GAD-7
Baseline	14.03 ± 1.33	14.00 ± 1.32	0.02	0.31 (-0.64 to 0.65)	0.001	0.001	0.001
8 weeks	5.88 ± 1.43	9.03 ± 1.59	-2.08	-3.16 (-3.93 to -2.46)
12 weeks	6.31 ± 1.49	11.16 ± 1.41	-3.34	-4.84 (-5.54 to -4.15)
PHQ-9
Baseline	14.06 ± 1.56	13.97 ± 1.60	0.06	0.93 (-0.69 to 0.86)	0.001	0.001	0.019
8 weeks	6.13 ± 1.56	8.19 ± 1.63	-1.29	-2.06 (-2.86 to -1.26)
12 weeks	6.88 ± 1.45	10.06 ± 1.54	-2.12	-3.19 (-3.91 to -2.46)

CI: Confidence interval; GAD-7: Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale; PHQ-9: Patient Health Questionnaire-9; PSS: Perceived Stress Scale.

Table 5 Correlation between the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Perceived Stress Scale, Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Insomnia Severity Index, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and targeted exercise intervention

Index	r	BF10	95%CI
SAV-1 - GAD-7	-0.968	1.585 × 1016	-0.984 to -0.926
SAV-2 - PHQ-9	-0.759	4.029 × 104	-0.868 to -0.531
SAV-3 - PSS-10	-0.942	5.249 × 1012	-0.971 to -0.870
SAV-4 - ESS	-0.957	2.547 × 1014	-0.978 to -0.901
SAV-5 - ISI	-0.869	8.447 × 107	-0.931 to -0.722
SAV-6 - PSQI	-0.815	1.010 × 106	-0.900 to -0.624

BF₁₀: Bayes factor; CI: Confidence interval; ESS: Epworth Sleepiness Scale; GAD-7: Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale; ISI: Insomnia Severity Index; PSQI: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; PHQ-9: Patient Health Questionnaire-9; PSS-10: Perceived Stress Scale; SAV: Sports activity volume.