Mental Health Foundation: Empowering people through physical activity
This report presents the findings from an exploratory study of a physical activity intervention based in Northern Ireland for people with severe and enduring mental health problems.
People with severe mental health problems have a shorter life expectancy and a higher risk of developing some medical conditions. An empowering programme that increases levels of physical activity may play a role in reducing this mortality gap.
The funding for the project came from DRILL, a £5 million research programme funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and employed a co-production approach between people with lived experience of mental health problems, Mental Health Foundation, Queen’s University Belfast, Praxis Care, Platinum Training Institute, Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke and the Northern, South Eastern and Western Recovery Colleges.
The QUB research team included Prof Gavin Davidson, Dr Claire McCartan, and Dr Paul Best.
To read more about this project visit the Mental Health Foundation website.