EFEITOS DE INTERVENÇÕES COM EXERCÍCIOS RESPIRATÓRIOS DIAFRAGMÁTICOS NOS SINTOMAS DE ANSIEDADE EM ADOLESCENTES: UMA REVISÃO SISTEMÁTICA

Abstract

This systematic review aimed to identify and summarize studies that analyzed the effects of diaphragmatic breathing exercise interventions on anxiety symptoms in adolescents. The study is registered in the PROSPERO database (CRD42022328536) and follows the PRISMA methodology. The search was carried out between July and August 2022 in MedLine/PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, EMBASE, Scielo, Web of Science, and Scopus databases. The descriptors for the search considered the population (adolescents), the type of intervention (diaphragmatic breathing exercise), the outcome (anxiety symptoms), and the study design (experimental studies and their subclassifications and quasi-experimental studies), and were combined using boolean operators. Methodological quality was determined using the PEDro scale. Of the 123 records identified, five articles were included, totaling 518 adolescents, most being school students (51.1%). 60.0% of the studies were carried out in Asia. The overall mean age was 15.9 years, and the instruments used to assess anxiety symptoms were STAI (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory), STAIC-S (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children State), GAD-7 (General Anxiety Disorder-7) and the Zung Anxiety Self-Assessment Scale. The included studies presented different characteristics concerning the duration of the interventions, the sessions’ time, the description depth of the activities, and the context for the application. However, the results of all included studies indicated the positive effects of diaphragmatic breathing exercises on adolescent anxiety symptoms. Only one study found no statistically positive results. However, the small number of studies and some methodological weaknesses suggest that the generalization of these findings should be followed with caution. Finally, it is recommended that future studies describe the protocols for applying diaphragmatic breathing exercises in detail and that they be developed with longer intervention periods.