Project Title

The feasibility of a walking intervention to increase activity and reduce sedentary behaviour in people with serious mental illness.

Research Focus

Iseult is leading the qualitative component of this study

Funder & Dates

CHITIN (Cross-border Healthcare Intervention Trials in Ireland). Interreg (Northern Ireland, Ireland, Scotland). Health Research Board

Principal Investigator or Primary Supervisor (if PhD project)

Prof Suzanne McDonough

Co-Investigators or additional supervisors

M. Murphy (UU), D. McArdle (HSE), C. McDonough (HSE), M. Dillon (HSE), M. Tully (UU), A. O'Neill (QUB/BHSCT), M. Clarke (UCD/ St John of God), A. Nevin (UEdinburgh), J. McAuley (NHSCT), J. Williams (KCL)

Research Fellow(s) or PhD Student

To Be Confirmed

Name & Institution of Collaborators

Ulster University, Health Service Executive (HSE) in Republic of Ireland, Health and Social Care Trusts (HSC) in Northern Ireland

Name of External Partner Organisations

Ulster University, King's College London, HSE (Midlands), University College Dublin, University of Edinburgh, HSC (Northern Trust)

Description of Project:

Aim; Methods; Expected Outcomes

Title: Walking for Health: The WORtH project. Background: Recently it has become known that people who have a Serious Mental Illness can sometimes die earlier in life than people who don’t have a Serious Mental Illness; they are particularly more likely to die of illnesses like heart/lung disease or cancer. The medications some people take for their Mental Illness combined with an unhealthy lifestyle that has too much sitting and not enough physical activity can contribute to these illnesses. There has been a lot of research done into the benefits of physical activity for people in the general population and it has been found that it is a good idea to spend more time moving rather than sitting. It is important to do investigations into people with a Serious Mental Illness to prevent some of those people dying earlier than the rest of the general population. Population: The people who will take part in the study will have a Serious Mental Illness e.g. schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depression. Adult Men and women can take part. People will be asked some questions to see how much physical activity (e.g. walking) they do and then the people who don’t do a lot will be asked to take part in the study. Some people will not be asked to take part so we can compare the two groups to see is there a benefit of doing the walking intervention versus not doing it. Intervention: Walking is a good way to increase physical activity and a lot of people like doing it. Other research into walking found that it can help people lose some weight. Feasibility Studies are pieces of research done before another study to answer the question “Can this study be done?”. There was a feasibility study done like this before in the UK in a large city; the study proposed here is in countryside settings in Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland. It will be called Walking This Way and it will happen over 17 weeks. The people involved will get information on benefits of physical activity. Every 2 weeks they will meet their coach to see how they are getting on and to support them. A pedometer (a small device that measures how many steps you walk) will be used. They will get a calendar to record how much physical activity they do every day and they can if they want join a group walk organised by the coach every week. Outcome: We are interested in finding out how willing were clinicians to recruit, how willing were people to take part, did the people who agreed to take part stick with the 17 week programme, did people drop out and all of this information will be used to see is it a good option to do a larger trial like this in the future. Some other things that will be looked at will be how much people felt they benefitted from the programme, did they enjoy it? Time: This research programme will take 2 years.

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