Physical activity promotion based on:

• Pedometers use;
• Weekly contact (telephone or face-to-face);
• Contact based on a self-determination theory.

TAU:

Treatment as usual, which include medications. Medications were prescribed by psychiatrists not involved in the study participation.

Weekly calls with general health content.

TAU:

Treatment as usual, which include medications. Medications were prescribed by psychiatrists not involved in the study participation.

Pedometer:

Each patient will receive a pedometer with increasing weekly aims on number of steps during the trial.

The number of steps to be achieved starts on 4.000 and increases progressively until the end of the trial.

Behavioral strategy based on STD theory, and the assessment of barriers and facilitators of each patient.

All patients were receiving treatment as usual

Hamilton scale for depressive symptoms assessed by a blinded psychiatrist. Clinician-administered semi-structured interview with 17 questions. It is designed to measure the severity of depressive symptoms in patients with a primary depressive illness. Higher scores means higher depressive symptoms. The cutoffs are the following: following severity ranges for the HAMD: no depression (0-7); mild depression (8-16); moderate depression (17-23); and severe depression (≥24). The maximum score is 52.

IPAQ

pedometer (only for intervention group)