Effects of the Metropolitan Civil Resilience Program: Comparison of the SAT Resilience Program and an Exercise Program

Purpose: To conduct preliminary research for developing a program to enhance resilience, a topic that has generated attention of late. Methods: We compared the Structured Association Technique (SAT) resilience program and an exercise program. The citizen’s lecture on stress management occurred 1 month after East Japan Earthquake, and the intervention was carried out in the afternoon of the same day. Participants could choose to join SAT (an imagery therapy to improve the self-image using associative images) resilience program (17 people) or healthy exercise program (Shakkiri gymnastics program; 9 people). They were metropolitan area residents, including workers and families. Participants filled in the checklist before the intervention, immediately after the intervention, and 1 month later. The saliva of all participants was extracted to assess SIgA as an immunity index before and immediately after the intervention. We compared the SAT group (9 females, age 34–60) and the exercise group (9 females, age 32–57). Results: Compared to the exercise group, mental health indices such as self-solving and significantly improved in the SAT group. However, this does not suggest that there was no improvement in the exercise group. After intervention, in the exercise group, SIgA in saliva and depression improved. In the group, the immunity index shown in SIgA in the saliva, the mental health index as measured by state anxiety and depression, the self-image index as measured by self-affirmation, problem-solving, moral independence, and perceived family support all significantly improved. Considerations: It appears that, through the change in self-image, resilience in daily life was promoted by the resilience program