Experimental Study on Exercise and Well-being in University Students

Summary

The goal of this randomized controlled trial is to to evaluate the effectiveness of a structured physical exercise program in improving university students' well-being. The study involves university students who volunteered to participate in a 10-week intervention designed to enhance their physical and psychological well-being.

The main question it aims to answer is: does participation in the structured physical exercise program lead to greater improvements in psychophysical well-being compared to the control group? Researchers will compare the experimental group (Group 2: structured physical activity program + stress management program) with the active control group (Group 1: stress management program only) to determine whether adding structured physical activity components produces additional benefits. Participants in the experimental Group will engage in a 10 week supervised physical activity program, twice a week, provided by the university sports center, and will attend an online asynchronous stress management program including 5 modules and lasting 5 weeks (one module per week).

Participants in the active control group will only attend the online asynchronous stress management program.

Participants of both groups will complete questionnaires at three time points (baseline, post-intervention, and 3-month follow-up) assessing well-being, psychological distress, quality of life, academic motivation and self-efficacy.

Conditions

• University Students

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Stress Management Program

brief, online, asynchronous stress management intervention based on the World Health Organization's Doing What Matters in Times of Stress program (WHO, 2020). The program consists of five self-guided modules grounded in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy principles, providing practical strategies to manage stress in daily life. One new module was released each week over a five-week period, and participants were encouraged to complete the exercises included between modules.

BEHAVIORAL

Structured physical exercise program

The physical exercise program consisted of group sessions held twice a week for ten consecutive weeks. The training sessions included whole-body workouts combining aerobic and anaerobic free-body exercises. Students could choose among different types of exercise classes offered by the university sports center, all designed to have comparable intensity levels. All sessions were conducted by certified professional trainers, under the supervision of a qualified sports professional to ensure safety and consistency across activities.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Università degli Studi di Brescia

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Alberto Ghilardi, Professor · Università degli Studi di Brescia

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-02-03

Primary Completion

2025-09-16

Completion

2025-09-16

Countries

• Italy

Study Locations