Necessity of Physical Activity to Reduce Hopelessness: An Analytical Approach

Abstract

This analytical study sought to present a summary of existing evidence re-garding the association between hopelessness and physical activity (PA) identifying major gaps in previous research. For this purpose, a systematic search was performed in 14 major databases. Following the screening process and undergoing rigorous quality appraisal, a total of 19 studies were eventually selected for inclusion in this review study. Among those, 13 were cross-sectional, 5 interventional and one was a cohort study. Regardless of the study designs, the results of all the studies consistently found a significant inverse relationship between physical activity and hopelessness except for one cross-sectional study showing no associations between the two variables. These findings advance considerable support for the utilization of physical activity as an interventional approach to reduce and treat hopelessness. In this regard, major gaps are identified and discussed to guide future inquiries ad-dressing this issue.