Exercise via Videoconferencing for People with Severe Mental Illness during COVID-19 Times: A Feasibility Study

Lisanne Elisabeth Maria Koomen,Patricia Velasquez,Wiepke Cahn,Jeroen Deenik,Fabio D’Agata

doi:10.4236/ape.2021.112019

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has serious negative consequences for the health status of people with severe mental illness (SMI). In this non-randomized controlled prospective patient preference study (N = 40), we investigated the feasibility of exercise via live videoconferencing for people with SMI, and preliminary effects on symptom severity and quality of life. We found that group exercise via videoconferencing is feasible for people with SMI, improving physical and psychological quality of life compared to controls receiving usual care. Further research in larger samples is needed to study the potential effect of exercise via videoconferencing in mitigating the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental and physical health for people with SMI.

Highlights

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our society drastically, impacting patients with severe mental illness (SMI) even more (O’Connor et al, 2020; Vindegaard & Benros, 2020)
We found that group exercise via videoconferencing is feasible for people with SMI, improving physical and psychological quality of life compared to controls receiving usual care
Further research in larger samples is needed to study the potential effect of exercise via videoconferencing in mitigating the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental and physical health for people with SMI

Summary

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our society drastically, impacting patients with severe mental illness (SMI) even more (O’Connor et al, 2020; Vindegaard & Benros, 2020). The urgent request to stay at home worsens their already high levels of sedentary behavior in people with SMI (Stanton et al, 2020; Vancampfort et al, 2017). It is urgently needed that we take measures to decrease the negative effects on mental and physical wellbeing of the COVID-19 pandemic for patients with SMI. Physical activity can have a positive effect on psychiatric symptoms, quality of life and physical health in people with a severe mental illness (Firth et al, 2020) and might be of use to mitigate the negative effects of the pandemic. The mandatory governmental COVID-19 measures made regular exercise activities harder or impossible since all sports facilities were closed and people were advised to stay at home

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