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Original research
Effectiveness of a brief lifestyle intervention targeting mental health staff: analysis of physical fitness and activity in the Keeping Our Staff in Mind study
  1. Hamish Fibbins1,2,
  2. Philip B Ward1,3,
  3. Jackie Curtis1,2,
  4. Andrew Watkins2,4,
  5. Oscar Lederman2,5,
  6. Rachel Morell1,
  7. Simon Rosenbaum1,6
  1. 1School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  2. 2Keeping the Body in Mind Program, South Eastern Sydney Local Health District, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  3. 3Schizophrenia Research Unit, Liverpool Hospital and Ingham Institute of Applied Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  4. 4Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  5. 5School of Medical Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  6. 6Black Dog Institute, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia
  1. Correspondence to Hamish Fibbins; hamish.fibbins{at}health.nsw.gov.au

Abstract

Background People with mental illness die on average 15 years less than the general population, primarily to cardiometabolic disease. Lifestyle interventions are effective in reducing cardiometabolic risk but are not routinely provided to mental health consumers. Lifestyle interventions targeting mental health staff may be beneficial in changing culture surrounding physical health and subsequently improving consumer outcomes. This study examines exercise and fitness outcomes of a targeted lifestyle intervention directed at Australian mental health staff.

Methods A pragmatic single-arm intervention study was conducted within an Australian public mental health service. Mental health staff were provided a five-session individualised lifestyle intervention (incorporating exercise and nutritional counselling) over 5 weeks. Two waves of the programme were delivered between 2015 and 2016. This paper examines the exercise and fitness outcomes of the second wave of the study. Participants were assessed at baseline and at a 16-week follow-up. The primary exercise outcome was a measurement of cardiorespiratory fitness. Secondary outcomes included self-reported physical activity and a measurement of handgrip strength.

Results A total of 106 staff participated in this component of the study. Cardiorespiratory fitness increased significantly from baseline to follow-up (p<0.001). Significant improvements to physical activity occurred with decreases in sedentary time (p<0.0005) and increases in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (p<0.005).

Conclusion Lifestyle interventions incorporating exercise counselling may improve the physical health of mental health staff. Such strategies may be effective in improving culture surrounding physical health and/or increasing the effectiveness of lifestyle interventions targeting mental health consumers.

  • exercise
  • mental
  • illness
  • physical activity
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjsem-2020-000761

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors All authors were involved in the planning, conduct and reporting of the project.

    • Funding This project was funded by the District Mental Health programme; South Eastern Sydney Local Health District, Sydney.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.

    • Ethics approval The study protocol was approved by the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC 15/054).

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data availability statement Data are available on reasonable request. Data are owned by the district mental health service of South Eastern Sydney Local Health District. Access to data repository and reuse is at the discretion of South Eastern Sydney Local Health District.