Effects of therapeutic listening on depression and physical activity in school going adolescents: a randomized controlled trial

IntroductionDepression is the prime cause of illness and disability in the world and is considered a major contributor to the global burden of diseases. Recently the Therapeutic Listening (TL) becomes a novel tool in the management of Depression. But it has minimal evidence and hence it need to be focused. PurposeTo estimate the effects of severity of depression, abdominal strength, balance, and overall Physical activity of school-going adolescents following therapeutic listening therapy (TLT).MethodologyThe randomized controlled trial performed on 30 school-going adolescents with depression who were recruited through simple random sampling. They were allocated into a TLT and a Traditional Music therapy (TMT) group through block randomization. Both groups had received their respective interventions for 30 minutes a day, 3 days a week for 6 weeks. Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale- short version 21 (DASS-21), Physical Activity Questionnaire for adolescents (PAQ-A), Modified sphygmomanometer to measure abdominal strength, and sensabalance fitness board (Sensamove) were compared at baseline and 6 weeks post-intervention within and between the groups. ResultStatistically significant difference (p<0.05) were observed in all the outcome measures, except anxiety of DASS-21 in both the groups. ConclusionTLT was found to be beneficial in improving depression and stress level, PA, and abdominal strength when compared to TMT. Both TLT and TMT have to potential to reduce anxiety.