Abstract
Depression is a common syndrome that has a strong negative impact on people’s quality of life. Women, especially in middle age, are facing a greater risk for depressive disorders. Increasing one’s physical activity level has shown great effects on reducing depression symptoms. The study evaluated the effect of a 12-week goal-directed walking intervention on walking engagement and depression symptoms among middle-aged women. A total of 55 middle to older age female participants (age range: 50–74) were included in the analysis. The 12-week intervention instructed participants to increase 15% of baseline steps every other week. Depression levels were measured pre-and post-intervention by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Revised Scale (CESD-R). A baseline measure-time structure- was considered as a possible mediator of association between walking and depression. Although no intervention effects were found in steps promotion and depression reduction in this walking program, we found that more depressed or younger participants had lower walking consistency. It suggested that people with higher depression level or younger age require more instruction over time when engaging in physical activity interventions. Additionally, adherence of participants showed a over-time decreasing trend in this self-paced walking program. This inspired us to give more timely adjusts goals and exercise performance feedback to bolster participants' adherence in the future.