Addington, JeanMacQueen, Glenda M.Corbett, Syl2019-01-172019-01-172019-01-16Corbett, S. (2019). Adolescent Mental Health: Canadian Psychiatric Risk and Outcome Study (PROCAN)- Exercise Intervention Pilot Study (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.http://hdl.handle.net/1880/109481BACKGROUND: The Canadian Psychiatric Risk and Outcome Study (PROCAN), a longitudinal study of youth at risk of serious mental illness (SMI), aims to better understand the trajectory of SMI. This study was conducted as a pilot exercise intervention on a subsample of the PROCAN cohort. OBJECTIVES: The primary objective was to examine the feasibility of an exercise intervention in youth at risk of SMI. The secondary objectives were to determine whether symptoms of mental illness and memory would improve, and hippocampal volume would increase, following participation in a moderate to high intensity aerobic exercise program. METHODS: Forty-four male and female youth at risk of SMI were recruited through the PROCAN project. Participants completed clinical, cognitive, neuroimaging and fitness assessments prior to and following a sixteen-week moderate to high intensity aerobic exercise intervention. Sixty-minute exercise sessions were held three times per week. Forty-one participants completed the entire intervention and assessments, including twenty-six that completed the neuroimaging portion. Twenty-eight age and gender matched healthy controls were recruited as a baseline comparison for neuroimaging. RESULTS: Exclusion, consented, and retention rates were; 22.7, 57.6 and 93.2% respectively. Significant (p < .05) improvements in aerobic fitness (p < .0001) were achieved over the course of the intervention. Likewise, reductions in anxiety (p = .024), depression (p = .012), and general prodromal symptoms (p < .0001) occurred, however distress did not diminish (p= .131). Right whole (p < .001) and right anterior (p = .001) hippocampal volumes significantly increased. Forward Span (p = .552), Backward Span (p = 1.000) and Letter Number Span (p = .606) did not significantly change. CONCLUSION: Aerobic exercise is a feasible and sound intervention strategy for reducing symptoms and improving overall physical health, including brain health, in youth at risk for SMI. Further research is required to replicate these findings and to expand knowledge of the mechanisms, optimum dose and factors that influence the efficacy of exercise.enUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.exerciseMental Healthdoctoral thesis10.11575/PRISM/35742