Effect of zumba virtual reality intervention on depression symptoms in women with fibromyalgia: The possible role of creative arts therapies

Abstract

Fibromyalgia is one of the most common chronic pain diseases. It is characterized by widespread pain and stiffness as well as sleep disturbance, poor physical fitness, cognitive impairment or anxiety and depression. Virtual reality intervention focused on Zumba showed an improvement in pain, quality of life, mobility skills, balance and fear of falling. However, the effect of a Zumba-based virtual reality intervention on depression symptoms is unknown. The T-tests showed a significant decrease of the depression symptoms in the experimental group after the intervention (p-value=0.021). The control group did not show significant differences (p-value=0.781). The current study does not provide enough information to draw solid conclusions about the effects of exergames on depression symptoms in people with fibromyalgia. Nevertheless, previous studies with artistic expression-based interventions presented benefits on anxiety and depression. This reduction may be related to the artistic expression of creative arts therapies.

INTRODUCTION

Fibromyalgia is one of the most common chronic pain diseases. It is characterised by widespread pain and stiffness as well as sleep disturbance, poor physical fitness, cognitive impairment or anxiety and depression (Wolfe et al., 2010).

Virtual reality intervention focused on Zumba showed an improvement in pain, quality of life, mobility skills, balance and fear of falling (Collado-Mateo, Dominguez-Muñoz, Adsuar, Merellano-Navarro, & Gusi, 2017). However, the effect of a Zumba-based virtual reality intervention on depression symptoms is unknown.

METHODS

A total of 72 women with fibromyalgia participated in this randomised controlled trial. After randomisation, 41 women completed an 8-week exergame-based training program focused on Zumba. 35 women were included in the control group. The Spanish Version of the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) (Martínez de La Iglesia et al., 2002) was administrated.

A repeated measure ANOVA was used to evaluate the effects of the program. A T-test of related samples was conducted to evaluate the effects of the intervention program in each of the groups.

RESULTS

The T-tests showed a significant decrease of the depression symptoms in the experimental group after the intervention (p-value=0.021). The control group did not show significant differences (p-value=0.781). However, the repeated measures ANOVA did not show statistical effect of the intervention program (F= 2.496; n2=0.033; p-value=0.118).

CONCLUSIONS

The current study does not provide enough information to draw solid conclusions about the effects of exergames on depression symptoms in people with fibromyalgia. Nevertheless, previous studies with artistic expression-based interventions presented benefits on anxiety and depression (Baptista, Villela, Jones, & Natour, 2012; Carbonell-Baeza et al., 2010; López-Rodríguez et al., 2013). This reduction may be related to the artistic expression of creative arts therapies (Martin et al., 2018). Future studies should combine the virtual reality with creative arts therapies in order to determine the benefits on depression symptoms in patients with fibromyalgia.

Acknowledgments

The author SV was supported by a grant from the regional department of economy and infrastructure of the Government of Extremadura and the European Social Fund (PD16008). The author AMG was supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (FPU17/03130). The funders played no role in the study design, the data collection and analysis, the decision to publish, or the preparation of the manuscript.

Funding

This study was co-funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (reference no DEP2015-70356) in the framework of the Spanish National R+D+i Plan.

References

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