Embedding physical activity into community-based peer support groups for those severely affected by mental illness

Healy, LC ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1372-7308, Benkwitz, A, McVinnie, Z, Sarkar, M ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8338-8500, Islin, M, Brinded, A, Dodge, B, Opacic, S, Swithenbank, Z, Ranasinghe, S, Oliver, J, Karanika-Murray, M and Nevill, ME ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2498-9493, 2023. Embedding physical activity into community-based peer support groups for those severely affected by mental illness. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20 (3): 2291. ISSN 1661-7827

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Abstract

Despite a growing evidence base on the effectiveness of community-based physical activity interventions for mental health, there is a lack of studies that focus on those affected by severe mental illness (SMI), who often experience poorer physical health, and are less physically active than the wider population. The use of peer support groups in this context is also understudied, despite benefits being documented in other contexts. This study examined the impact and process of a nationwide project to embed physical activity into peer support groups for those affected by SMI. Following the embedding of physical activity within peer support groups, interviews and focus groups were conducted to explore the experiences of those involved with the project and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The key findings related to: 1) the social aspects of embedding physical activity in the groups; 2) the focus on peer support and informal physical activity (rather than organised sport) being beneficial; 3) doing things differently and lessons to learn; and 4) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, we found that peer support is an important feature to include in projects encouraging those severely affected by mental illness to become more physically active.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Creators:	Healy, L.C., Benkwitz, A., McVinnie, Z., Sarkar, M., Islin, M., Brinded, A., Dodge, B., Opacic, S., Swithenbank, Z., Ranasinghe, S., Oliver, J., Karanika-Murray, M. and Nevill, M.E.
Publisher:	MDPI AG
Date:	27 January 2023
Volume:	20
Number:	3
ISSN:	1661-7827
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.3390/ijerph20032291 DOI 1641673 Other
Rights:	Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecom‐mons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Lee Houghton
Date Added:	08 Feb 2023 11:18
Last Modified:	08 Feb 2023 11:18
Related URLs:	Publisher
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/48193

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