The educational programs with behavioral components (diet and exercise) for patients with schizophrenia consistently improve patients' overall health. Here we present the one-year outcomes of 515 out-patients with respect to differences between the two health care services.

This program was delivered by trained psychiatric nurses in 10 sessions (in the Czech Republic) and 8 sessions (in the Slovak Republic) lasting one-hour in consecutive groups consisting of 5-8 participants. We compared groups of participants in both countries, as well as the influence of participation in this program on weight control with regard to antipsychotic medication.

Between January 2005 and 2006 210 out-patients with schizophrenia-spectrum diagnoses entered the courses of the Wellness Program consecutively in the centers throughout the Czech Republic and 305 out-patients throughout the Slovak Republic. For the analysis we included only those patients who participated at least 7x in the Czech Republic (N=127) and 6x in the Slovak Republic (N=269). There was no difference in gender distribution and average age. The baseline parameters were different in both countries (body mass index, knowledge about nutrition and exercise), but their improvement was comparable in a weight loss and in improvement of knowledge about nutrition and exercise.

The Wellness Program was successfully accepted in both countries despite the different treatment structure in both countries. Participants were not only able to remember the facts about nutrition and excercise but were also able to use them in real life which is in connection to their weight loss.