What Physical Health Means to Me: Perspectives of People with Mental Illness

Abstract

There are significant inequalities in physical health and life expectancy between people with and without a mental illness. Understanding perspectives of people with mental illness on personal meanings of physical health is essential to ensuring health services are aligned with consumer understandings, needs, and values. A qualitative exploratory study was undertaken involving focus groups with 31 consumers in The Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Participants were asked: "What does physical health mean to you?" Thematic analysis was applied to interview transcripts. Five themes are discussed, representing different emphases in the meaning of physical health: (1) physical and mental are interconnected, (2) absence of disease, (3) moving the body, (4) struggling for healthy diet, and (5) functioning and participation. Physical pain was a difficulty that arose across these themes. Mental health consumers see physical health as always connected with well-being. Nurses would benefit from been informed by consumer understandings of physical health. In addition, there should be more attention to quality of life measures of people with mental illness as these are more congruent with consumer perspectives on physical health than biomedical measures.

Educational nurse‐led lifestyle intervention for persons with mental illness

“…), recent findings suggest that more focus should be placed on patient‐reported outcomes such as quality‐of‐life measures, which are more congruent with users' perspectives of physical health (Happell et al . ). That notion is supported by evidence that social factors affect individual health and quality of life (Chou et al .…”

Codesigned recommendations for increasing engagement in structured physical activity for people with serious mental health problems in Australia

“…Additionally, there is a need to involve both consumers and exercise practitioners in planning and codeveloping interventions which take account of barriers and enablers for participating, and maintaining, engagement to ensure interventions are appropriate (Cranwell, Polacsek, & McCann, 2016;Happell et al, 2016). These interventions also need to address the known gap between an expressed interest in exercise and actual participation in physical activities (Ussher, Stanbury, Cheeseman, & Faulkner, 2007).…”

Health Beliefs and Experiences of a Health Promotion Intervention Among Psychiatric Patients With Substance Use: An Interview Study

“…Studies involving patient perspectives tend to focus on health behaviour change programs and interventions and to a lesser extent, on the meaning mental health patients ascribe to physical health (Happell et al 2016). One recent study explored perspectives on health among mental health patients (Happell et al 2016), and Villena and Chesla (2010) gave partial insight into perspectives on health among dually diagnosed patients (Villena & Chesla 2010).…”

“…Studies involving patient perspectives tend to focus on health behaviour change programs and interventions and to a lesser extent, on the meaning mental health patients ascribe to physical health (Happell et al 2016). One recent study explored perspectives on health among mental health patients (Happell et al 2016), and Villena and Chesla (2010) gave partial insight into perspectives on health among dually diagnosed patients (Villena & Chesla 2010). In both Happell et al (2016) and Villena and Chesla (2010) contextual factors influenced how patients behaved and sought help with regards to potential physical health issues and how patients understood physical health.…”

“…One recent study explored perspectives on health among mental health patients (Happell et al 2016), and Villena and Chesla (2010) gave partial insight into perspectives on health among dually diagnosed patients (Villena & Chesla 2010). In both Happell et al (2016) and Villena and Chesla (2010) contextual factors influenced how patients behaved and sought help with regards to potential physical health issues and how patients understood physical health. This emphasizes the importance of including an exploration of health beliefs when evaluating health promotion interventions.…”