The influence of a twelve weeks aerobic exercise regimen on neuroticism in HIV positive clients in Uganda

Abstract

Highly active antiretrovirals have led to a considerable drop in HIV-related morbidity and mortality and a large increase in the life expectancy of HIV positive individuals in Uganda. The likelihood of clinicians coming across people exhibiting neuroticism symptoms associated with the illness has been reported to be on the increase. As much as exercising has been established to have positive effects is alleviating such symptoms, it is noted that, 52% of the population do not follow an exercise regimen and the problem has persisted. This study assessed the influence of aerobic exercise on neuroticism symptoms in HIV positive clients attending an ART clinic in Uganda. A quasi-experimental research design with 67 volunteers in each of the pre- and post-test control groups. The results reveal that at the pre-test stage, all the experimental group participants reported experiencing some form of neuroticism. However, after the aerobic exercises, 80.8% of the experimental study participants reported having been relieved of neuroticism symptoms. In this instance, the experimental group’s p-value was smaller than the alpha level (.05) since the test took a 95% threshold for significance. These results imply that aerobic exercises have a significant effect on reducing neuroticism in HIV positive clients on ART.