Preventing Physical Health Illnesses in Mental Health
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Preventing Physical Health Comorbidities in Early Intervention Services for Psychosis: A Multi-professional Approach to Physical Health Promotion.
IRAS ID
185514
Contact name
Gabriel Abotsie
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Anglia Ruskin University
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 5 months, 1 days
Research summary
Mental health conditions such as Schizophrenia, Bipolar illness and some severe forms of Depression are known as Serious Mental Health Illnesses (SMI). Research has shown that the life expectancy of people with SMI is about 15 to 25 years shorter than the average population. There are many contributing factors to this gap, including high rates of physical health problems, excessive smoking and poor lifestyles among people with SMI.
We know the problem, yet many people with SMI are not asked about their physical health. National policies and guidelines recommend that mental health services need to do more to look after the physical health needs of people with SMI, especially those that are in their first year of mental health medication. The problem with these guidelines is that it does not look at the impact of staff time and resources required to perform what it proposes.
We think that using an approach where the different staff groups like Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Social Workers and Support Workers all engage in physical health monitoring is the way forward. We also think that helping people with SMI prevent physical health illnesses in the future is the best approach to tackling the problem.
We will test out this idea in Early Intervention Services for Psychosis (EIS) which is a type of community mental health service that looks after people newly diagnosed with mental health illness. Mental health staff (Multidisciplinary) working with EIS will be trained to use a physical health screening tool called Physical Health Check (PHC) to promote the health of their clients. Staff participants will use the PHC with their clients over a one-year period after which we will assess the impact of the programme on the health of the clients. We will also explore participants experience of using the PHC tool.REC name
East of England - Cambridge South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/EE/0019
Date of REC Opinion
11 Feb 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion