title: Participation in a 10-week course of yoga improves behavioural control and decreases psychological distress in a prison population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Yoga and meditation have been shown to be effective in alleviating symptoms of depression and anxiety in healthy volunteers and psychiatric populations. Recent work has also indicated that yoga can improve cognitive-behavioural performance and control. Although there have been no controlled studies of the effects of yoga in a prison population, we reasoned that yoga could have beneficial effects in a setting where psychosocial functioning is often low, and the frequency of impulsive behaviours is high.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were recruited from 7 British prisons and randomly allocated to either a 10-week yoga programme (yoga group; 1 class per week; N = 45) or a control group (N = 55). Self-report measures of mood, stress, and psychological distress were collected before and after the intervention period. Participants completed a cognitive-behavioural task (Go/No-Go) at the end of the study, which assessed behavioural response inhibition and sustained attention.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants in the yoga group showed increased self-reported positive affect, and reduced stress and psychological distress, compared to participants in the control group. Participants who completed the yoga course also showed better performance in the cognitive-behavioural task, making significantly fewer errors of omission in Go trials and fewer errors of commission on No-Go trials, compared to control participants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Yoga may be effective in improving subjective wellbeing, mental health, and executive functioning within prison populations. This is an important consideration given the consistently high rates of psychological morbidity in this group and the need for effective and economical intervention programmes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Oxford University, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Amy C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Bilderbeck
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Farias
authors.forename: Inti A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Brazil
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jakobowitz
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wikholm
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D032763:Behavior Control; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011330:Prisons; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011581:Psychological Tests; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015013:Yoga / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Behavioural control; Mood; Prison; Stress; Yoga