Educational nurse‐led lifestyle intervention for persons with mental illness

Abstract

Although persons with severe mental illness face an increased risk of mortality and of developing negative health outcomes, research has shown that lifestyle interventions can sufficiently support their health. In response, this study examined a nurse-led lifestyle intervention developed in cooperation with members of municipal and county councils to gauge its impact on the quality of life, cognitive performance, walking capacity, and body composition of persons with severe mental illness. Lasting 26 weeks and involving 38 persons with severe mental illness, the intervention prioritised two components: the interpersonal relationships of persons with severe mental illness, staff, and group leaders and group education about physical and mental health. Pre-post intervention measurements of quality of life collected with the Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life, cognitive performance with the Frontal Systems Behaviour Scale, walking capacity with a 6-min walk test, and body composition in terms of waist circumference and body mass index were analysed using a nonparametric test Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results suggest that the intervention afforded significant improvements in the health-related variables of quality of life, cognitive performance, walking capacity, and waist circumference for persons with severe mental illness. However, long-term studies with control groups and that examine parameters related to cardiovascular risk factors are essential to ensure the sustained impact of the intervention.

The Effects of Nurse-Led Multidisciplinary Team Management on Glycosylated Hemoglobin, Quality of Life, Hospitalization, and Help-Seeking Behavior of People with Diabetes Mellitus

“…Our findings confirmed the findings of previous studies [28,31,32] that nurse-led management improved the QOL of people with DM. However, the improvement had not been found in a trial by Blackberry et al [16], which was in contrast to our findings.…”

The Importance of Belonging to a Context: A Nurse-Led Lifestyle Intervention for Adult Persons with ADHD

“…When the relationship deepened to a dialogue between the participants, the participants could share common life experiences and learn additional coping tools from each other that improved their physical, mental and social health. These findings are in accordance with those of earlier research regarding life style interventions (Ek & Isaksson, 2013;Ronngren et al, 2017). By creating a deeper relationship both through inperson group meetings and through the app (WhatsApp), some participants described the intervention as a kind of coaching to change their lifestyles.…”

“…A previous nurse-led lifestyle intervention with persons with mental illness, involved group education, interpersonal relationships, and cognitive support was promising in mitigating health risks in persons with mental illness (Ronngren et al, 2017). The structure and components from this intervention were used when developing the current intervention for adult persons with ADHD and mental illness.…”

“…Additionally, group-based models seem to be the most commonly used design for lifestyle interventions for persons with mental illness (De Rosa et al, 2017) and improving mental and social health (Naslund et al, 2016). Another important issue in lifestyle interventions is being a part of a social group (Forsberg et al, 2010;Graham et al, 2014;Ronngren et al, 2017).…”

Improving physical health outcomes for people with severe mental illness: A proof‐of‐concept study of nurse practitioner candidate practice

“…Mental health nurses possess the knowledge, skills, and capacity to intervene effectively with co‐occurring physical health conditions through assessment (Rosenbaum et al ), education (Foster et al ), and lifestyle intervention (Rőnngren et al ). Community mental health services provide an effective platform for such healthcare provision as they are outpatient services designed to support consumers’ mental and physical health goals (Department of Health & Human Services ) and can facilitate collaborative linkages and referrals to other community supports (Department of Health ).…”