Exercise and Epstein's TARGET for treatment of depressive symptoms: A randomized study.

This study was designed with a dual goal: (1) to compare the change in the scores of depressive symptoms by means of the implementation of three intervention programs in comparison to a control group: a) based on Epstein's TARGET (ET), b) without TARGET strategies (NET), and c) under conditions of active exercise (AE); and (2) to analyze whether the Self-determination Index (SDI) predicts the reduction of depressive symptoms. The participants ( = 106; 68 females and 38 males), aged between 18-30 years, were randomly assigned to one of the groups. Each treatment lasted 8 weeks (3 hours/week).