Objective: To explore the potential impact of exercise and sport training on symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, quality of life, pain, and fitness in male refugees living in a Greek refugee camp. Methods: This investigation was designed as a one group pre-test/post-test study. A total of 45 refugees (Mage = 25.6) participated in the data assessment. All participants were invited to engage in an 8-week exercise and sport intervention. Data were analysed with hierarchical regression analyses. Results: Baseline scores significantly predicted post-intervention scores across all study variables. Regression analyses showed that a higher participation rate predicted fewer anxiety symptoms, better health-related quality of life, higher self-perceived fitness, higher handgrip strength, and better cardiovascular fitness at post-intervention. A non-significant trend was also found for PTSD and depressive symptoms, showing that a higher participation rate was associated with fewer complaints at post-intervention. Conclusions: Among male refugees living in precarious conditions in a Greek refugee camp, frequency of participation in an 8-week exercise and sport training program seemed to have the potential to positively impact refugees’ health. Due to the pre-experimental study design, our results must be interpreted with caution. © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Greece Psychiatric symptoms Mental health Refugees Fitness physical activity

physical activity vulnerable population depression training pretest posttest design grip strength fitness refugee anxiety disorder exercise exercise intensity mental health human cardiorespiratory fitness clinical assessment Self Report pain quality of life treatment duration psychology Adolescent male Greece refugee camp Article sport major clinical study adult posttraumatic stress disorder patient participation outcome assessment body mass