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Record W4407212527 · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0318364

Mindfulness-based (non-contact) boxing therapy (MBBT) for depression and anxiety: A feasibility study

2025· article· en· W4407212527 on OpenAlexafffundabout
Johny Bozdarov, Brett D. M. Jones, Madeha Umer, Daniel M. Blumberger, Ishrat Husain

Bibliographic record

VenuePLoS ONE · 2025
Typearticle
Languageen
FieldPsychology
TopicMindfulness and Compassion Interventions
Canadian institutionsUniversity of TorontoCentre for Addiction and Mental Health
FundersCentre for Addiction and Mental Health Foundation
KeywordsMindfulnessAnxietyPsychological interventionAttendanceRandomized controlled trialClinical psychologyMedicineMajor depressive disorderIntervention (counseling)DistressMeditationDepression (economics)PsychiatryGeneralized anxiety disorderPhysical therapyMoodInternal medicine

Abstract

fetched live from OpenAlex

OBJECTIVES: Mindfulness-Based (non-contact) Boxing Therapy (MBBT) is a novel intervention designed to empower and promote self-agency through behavioral interventions, while reducing barriers to exercise for individuals with mental disorders. MBBT is an instructor-led, manualized, non-contact boxing group-exercise program (delivered in 90 min sessions, twice a week, over 10 weeks) that blends principles of mindfulness, meditation and group therapy. The current study tested the acceptability and feasibility of delivering MBBT to adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) or generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). METHODS: Nine adult outpatients with MDD or GAD were recruited from a psychiatric outpatient clinic in Toronto, Canada in a 10-week feasibility trial of MBBT using a pre-post design. Feasibility was assessed through recruitment and retention rates, while acceptability was assessed through the CSQ-8, and self-questionnaires. Secondary clinical outcomes included the PHQ-9, GAD-7, K10, CGI, and MAAS. Trial registry: ISRCTN23023309. RESULTS: Eight participants (5 female, 3 male) were included in the final analysis. Results indicated a high user retention (89%), attendance (84%), and satisfaction (98%). The study observed a statistically significant mean percent reduction in depression (54%), anxiety (51%) and distress (36%), alongside a mean percent increase in mindfulness (79%). Post intervention qualitative feedback from participants revealed themes of inclusivity and accessibility, cathartic release and control of emotions, improved self-esteem and confidence, self-agency, community, and trust in leadership. CONCLUSIONS: Given the limitation of the study, MBBT appeared to be feasible and acceptable as an exercise/behavioural intervention. Further well-designed randomized clinical trials are warranted to confirm the clinical benefits of MBBT.

Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.

How this classification was reachedexpand

Full frame machine prediction

Teacher imitation

Not calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.

metaresearch head score (Codex)0.006
metaresearch head score (Gemma)0.004
Version: metacan-v3-hybrid-931329e0061cValidation status: machine_predicted_unvalidated
Candidate categoriesnone
Consensus categoriesnone
DomainCandidate signal: none · Consensus signal: none
Study designCandidate signal: Non-randomized trial · Consensus signal: Non-randomized trial
GenreCandidate signal: Empirical · Consensus signal: Empirical
Teacher disagreement score0.007
Threshold uncertainty score0.029

Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)

CategoryCodexGemma
Metaresearch0.0060.004
Meta-epidemiology (narrow)0.0010.001
Meta-epidemiology (broad)0.0000.001
Bibliometrics0.0010.000
Science and technology studies0.0010.001
Scholarly communication0.0000.001
Open science0.0010.001
Research integrity0.0010.001
Insufficient payload (model declined to judge)0.0030.001

Machine scores (provisional)

The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.

Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.

Opus teacher head0.072
GPT teacher head0.351
Teacher spread0.280 · how far apart the two teachers sit on this one work
Validation statusscore_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from it

Classification

machine, unvalidated

Machine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.

The models applied no category: nothing in the taxonomy fit this work.
Study designNon-randomized trial
Domainnot available
GenreEmpirical

How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".

Quick stats

Citations2
Published2025
Admission routes3
Has abstractyes

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