Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T03:05:45.909Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The next step: a strategic focus on physical activity and sedentary behaviour in Irish mental health care

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 August 2018

E. Matthews ,
M. Cowman  and
S. Denieffe
E. Matthews*
Affiliation:
The Department of Nursing and Health Care, Waterford Institute of Technology, Waterford, Ireland
M. Cowman
Affiliation:
The Department of Sport and Exercise Science, Waterford Institute of Technology, Waterford, Ireland
S. Denieffe
Affiliation:
The School of Humanities, Waterford Institute of Technology, Waterford, Ireland
*
*Address for correspondence: E. Matthews, The School of Health Sciences, O’Connell Bianconi Building, Cork Road, Waterford, Ireland. (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

People with severe mental illnesses have dramatically reduced life expectancy compared with the general population, which is largely attributed to physical comorbidity. Physical activity and sedentary behaviour interventions offer a safe and viable therapeutic resource for multi-disciplinary mental health care teams. The accumulating evidence supporting the role of these interventions has changed the focus of mental health strategy in some countries, with new developing roles for certain mental health professionals in this field. However, in Ireland the absence of specialised exercise practitioners places a leadership role for mental health nurses in this regard. National mental health strategy in Ireland should prioritise physical activity and sedentary behaviour interventions, make recommendations for the integration of specialised exercise practitioners in all mental health multidisciplinary teams, and recommend the provision of training and awareness for mental health nurses and other multidisciplinary professionals who are already well placed to address this issue.

Keywords

Mental health nursingmental health strategyphysical activitysedentary behaviour
Type
Perspective Piece
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 38 , Issue 1: Themed Issue: Physical Health in Mental Illness , March 2021 , pp. 6 - 8
Copyright
© College of Psychiatrists of Ireland 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Correll, CU, Solmi, M, Veronese, N, Bortolato, B, Rosson, S, Santonastaso, P, Thapa-chhetri, N, Fornaro, M, Gallicchio, D, Collantoni, E, Pigato, G, Favaro, A, Kohler, C, Vancampfort, D, Ward, P, Gaughran, F, Carvalho, AF, Stubbs, B (2017). Prevalence, incidence and mortality from cardiovascular disease in patients with pooled and specific severe mental illness: a large-scale meta-analysis of 3,211,768 patients and 113,383,368 controls. World Psychiatry 16, 163–180.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cullen, C, McCann, E (2014). Exploring the role of physical activity for people diagnosed with serious mental illness in Ireland. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 22, 58–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cullen, K, McDaid, D (2017). Evidence Review to Inform the Parameters for a Refresh of a Vision for Change (AVFC): A Wide-angle International Review of Evidence and Developments in Mental Health Policy and Practice. The Department of Health: Dublin.Google Scholar
Curtis, J, Watkins, A, Rosenbaum, S, Teasdale, S, Kalucy, M, Samaras, K, Ward, PB (2016). Evaluating an individualized lifestyle and life skills intervention to prevent antipsychotic-induced weight gain in first-episode psychosis. Early Intervention in Psychiatry 10, 267–276.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Department of Health (2015). Connecting for Life; Ireland’s National Strategy to Reduce Suicide 2015–2020. The Health Service Executive: Dublin.Google Scholar
Department of Health and Children (2006). A Vision for Change: Report of the Expert Group on Mental Health Policy. Stationary Office: Dublin.Google Scholar
Firth, J, Stubbs, B, Rosenbaum, S, Vancampfort, D, Malchow, B, Schuch, F, Elliott, R, Nuechterlein, KH, Yung, AR (2017). Aerobic exercise improves cognitive functioning in people with schizophrenia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Schizophrenia Bulletin 43, 546–556.Google ScholarPubMed
Happell, B, Platania-Phung, C, Scott, D (2011). Placing physical activity in mental health care: a leadership role for mental health nurses. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing 20, 310–318.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lederman, O, Grainger, K, Stanton, R, Douglas, A, Gould, K, Perram, A, Baldeo, R, Fokas, T, Nauman, F, Semaan, A, Hewavasam, J, Pontin, L, Rosenbaum, S (2016). Consensus statement on the role of accredited exercise physiologists within the treatment of mental disorders: a guide for mental health professionals. Australasian Psychiatry 24, 347–351.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lederman, O, Suetani, S, Stanton, R, Chapman, J, Korman, N, Rosenbaum, S, Ward, PB, Siskind, D (2017). Embedding exercise interventions as routine mental health care: implementation strategies in residential, inpatient and community settings. Australasian Psychiatry 25, 451–455.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morgan, AJ, Parker, AG, Alvarez-Jimenez, M, Jorm, AF (2013). Exercise and mental health: an exercise and sports science Australia commissioned review. Journal of Exercise Physiology 16, 64–74.Google Scholar
Nash, M, Bracken-Scally, M, Smith, V, Higgins, A, Eustace-Cook, J, Monahan, M, Callaghan, P, Romanos, M (2015). Literature Review Using Systematic Approaches to Explore Physical Illness Co-morbidity among People with Serious Mental Illness and Related Healthcare Interventions. Health Service Executive: Dublin.Google Scholar
Nielsen, RE, Uggerby, AS, Jensen, SOW, McGrath, JJ (2013). Increasing mortality gap for patients diagnosed with schizophrenia over the last three decades - a Danish nationwide study from 1980 to 2010. Schizophrenia Research 146, 22–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pratt, SI, Jerome, GJ, Schneider, KL, Craft, LL, Buman, MP, Stoutenberg, M, Daumit, GL, Bartels, SJ, Goodrich, DE (2016). Increasing US health plan coverage for exercise programming in community mental health settings for people with serious mental illness: a position statement from the Society of Behavior Medicine and the American College of Sports Medicine. Translational Behavioral Medicine 6, 478–481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenbaum, S, Hobson-powell, A, Davison, K, Stanton, R, Craft, LL, Duncan, M, Elliot, C, Ward, PB (2018). The role of sport, exercise, and physical activity in closing the life expectancy gap for people with mental illness: an international consensus statement by Exercise and Sports Science Australia, American College of Sports Medicine, British Association of Sport and Exercise Science, and Sport and Exercise Science New Zealand. Translational Journal of the ACSM 3, 72–73.Google Scholar
Rosenbaum, S, Tiedemann, A, Sherrington, C, Curtis, J, Ward, P (2014). Physical activity interventions for people with mental illness: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 75, 964–974.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rosenbaum, S, Tiedemann, A, Ward, PB, Curtis, J, Sherrington, C (2015). Physical activity interventions: an essential component in recovery from mental illness. British Journal of Sports Medicine 49, 1544–1545.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schuch, FB, Vancampfort, D, Richards, J, Rosenbaum, S, Ward, PB, Stubbs, B (2016). Exercise as a treatment for depression: a meta-analysis adjusting for publication bias. Journal of Psychiatric Research 77, 42–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stubbs, B, Chen, L-J, Chung, M-S, Ku, P-W (2017). Physical activity ameliorates the association between sedentary behavior and cardiometabolic risk among inpatients with schizophrenia: a comparison versus controls using accelerometry. Comprehensive Psychiatry 74, 144–150.Google Scholar
Stubbs, B, Soundy, A, Probst, M, De Hert, M, De Herdt, A, Vancampfort, D (2014). Understanding the role of physiotherapists in schizophrenia: an international perspective from members of the International Organisation of Physical Therapists in Mental Health (IOPTMH). Journal of Mental Health 23, 125–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thornicroft, G (2011). Physical health disparities and mental illness: the scandal of premature mortality. British Journal of Psychiatry 199, 441–442.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vancampfort, D, Faulkner, G (2014). Physical activity and serious mental illness: a multidisciplinary call to action. Mental Health and Physical Activity 7, 153–154.Google Scholar
Vancampfort, D, Rosenbaum, S, Ward, PB, Stubbs, B (2015). Exercise improves cardiorespiratory fitness in people with schizophrenia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Schizophrenia Research 169, 453–457.Google Scholar
Vancampfort, D, Stubbs, B, Mitchell, AJ, De Hert, M, Wampers, M, Ward, PB, Rosenbaum, S, Correll, CU (2015). Risk of metabolic syndrome and its components in people with schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis. World Psychiatry 14, 339–347.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed