Abstract
Background: Physical activity significantly improves mental illness symptoms and physical health for people living with mental illness. Mental health services do not routinely provide their consumers with access to exercise professionals for physical activity engagement. Barriers exist to integrating physical activity as part of standard care including staff culture, finance, and resources. This study examines the feasibility of newly established exercise physiology clinic within a mental health service in Sydney, Australia.Methods: A single site, open trial was conducted in a community centre within a large mental health district. A meeting room was converted into a part-time exercise physiology clinic where individualised physical activity interventions were delivered by an accredited exercise physiologist. Outcome measures including BMI, cardiovascular fitness, and self-reported physical activity were collected.Results: A total of 84 mental health consumers (17% of eligible consumers within the mental health service) participated in the clinic on average for one exercise session weekly. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity significantly increased and sedentary time significantly decreased (p < 0.001).Conclusions: Exercise physiology clinics are feasible within mental health services and should be incorporated as part of standard care.
Highlights
People with severe mental illness face a reduced life expectancy of 15–20 years compared to the general population [1]; this is overwhelmingly attributed to chronic physical illnesses such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes [2]
Lifestyle interventions, incorporating nutrition and physical activity, are beneficial in reducing cardiometabolic risk [5, 6, 9] whilst having positive effects on mental health symptomatology, cognition and psychosocial functioning for people with severe mental illness [10, 11]. Evidence suggests that such lifestyle interventions are most effective when delivered by experts in the relevant fields, including dietitians and exercise physiologists, as they can adopt evidence-based practises and utilise behaviour change techniques to maximise long term adherence in people with severe mental illness [6, 12,13,14]
In this paper we evaluated the feasibility of a novel exercise physiology clinic delivered as routine care to people living with severe mental illness receiving treatment in a community mental health centre
Summary
People with severe mental illness face a reduced life expectancy of 15–20 years compared to the general population [1]; this is overwhelmingly attributed to chronic physical illnesses such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes [2]. Lifestyle interventions, incorporating nutrition and physical activity, are beneficial in reducing cardiometabolic risk [5, 6, 9] whilst having positive effects on mental health symptomatology, cognition and psychosocial functioning for people with severe mental illness [10, 11]. Evidence suggests that such lifestyle interventions are most effective when delivered by experts in the relevant fields, including dietitians and exercise physiologists, as they can adopt evidence-based practises and utilise behaviour change techniques to maximise long term adherence in people with severe mental illness [6, 12,13,14]. This study examines the feasibility of newly established exercise physiology clinic within a mental health service in Sydney, Australia
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