Critical apraisal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Critical apraisal - Essay Example The article is pertinent as this particular segment of society faces lot of problems related to stress and depression resulting in health problems that adversely affects their work and employment scope. The article, ‘A randomized controlled trial of combined exercise and psycho-education for low-SES women: Short- and long-term outcomes in the reduction of stress and depressive symptoms’ by Waerden et al., is a study that was conducted on 161 Dutch low SES women with a moderately high stress level or depressive symptoms between September 2005 and May 2008. It helped evaluate the impact of interventions on their stress and depression. The group based program was divided into three categories: E or exercise only; EP or exercise with psycho education; and WLP or waiting list control condition where participants were randomly assigned. The study highlighted 8 weeks intervention with follow up after 2, 6 and 12 months respectively. It revealed that E and EP showed stress reduction in women with low education achievement. The findings are important as this group can be targeted for reducing stress and depressive symptoms. The study has a clear statement of goals and articulates its importance within the designated target group. The main objective of the research is to evaluate the ‘effects of multidisciplinary preventive intervention aimed at reducing stress and depressive symptoms among low-SES women’ (Waerden, et al. 85). The research is important because it addresses the gap of combining exercise with psycho social approaches for low SES women. It is highly relevant because low SES women often do not engage in preventive measures for stress or depression. Moreover, the studies so far have been accompanied by lot of questionnaires and feedbacks that required verbal skills and home assignments which have served as