Feasibility Study of Increasing Social Support to Enhance a Healthy Lifestyle Intervention for Individuals with Serious Mental Illness.
OBJECTIVE
Healthy lifestyle interventions addressing obesity in people with serious mental illness (SMI) lead to modest weight losses that tend not to be sustained over time. By augmenting lifestyle interventions with family and peer support targeting health behavior change, greater weight loss might be obtained and sustained in this population. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of increasing support from family and friends to enhance a healthy lifestyle intervention (In SHAPE) adapted for individuals with SMI.


METHODS
A sample of 7 dyads (14 total participants) participated in this small-scale open-feasibility trial of social support strategies to enhance health promotion. Weekly 1-hour health coaching sessions were augmented by sessions designed to increase support for healthy eating and exercise through active learning and didactic instruction. Feasibility was assessed by program participation and by examining participants' satisfaction and exploring suggestions for improving the model post-intervention.


RESULTS
The majority of participants (57%) nominated a friend, followed by adult child-parent pairs (28%) and sibling pairs (14%) to participate as support partners in the study. All participant-partner dyads (100%) completed 12 sessions within 16 weeks. Participants reported high satisfaction and perceived benefits from the program. Recommend modifications by the dyads included more interactive sessions, a combination of group and dyadic sessions, and hands-on cooking classes.


CONCLUSIONS
This formative research showed that the study design is feasible and that the intervention can facilitate social support for health behavior change in people with SMI. Further research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention.
Health Promotion Research Center at Dartmouth.
Kelly A
KA
Aschbrenner
Boston University Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation.
Kim T
KT
Mueser
The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.
John A
JA
Naslund
University of Connecticut.
Amy A
AA
Gorin
The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.
Allison
A
Kinney
The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.
Lucas
L
Daniels
The Dartmouth Centers for Health and Aging.
Stephen J
SJ
Bartels
exercise; mental disorders; sedentary lifestyles; social support; weight loss