Tackling change in mental health service delivery: A qualitative evaluation of a lifestyle program targeting mental health staff - Keeping our Staff in Mind (KoSiM).

Issues Addressed: People with severe mental illness have adverse health outcomes compared to the general population. Lifestyle interventions are effective in improving health outcomes in this population. Current cultural processes in mental health services do not generally incorporate physical health care practices.

Keeping our staff in mind: Dietary results of a lifestyle intervention targeting mental health staff.

Issues Addressed: 1) Describe the dietary intake of mental health staff within South Eastern Sydney Local Health District and 2) Evaluate the impact of an individualised staff lifestyle program on the following nutrition parameters; (i) energy, (ii) core food groups and (iii) discretionary foods.

Methods: This was a pragmatic single-arm intervention study, conducted for all staff working in a public mental health service, in Sydney, Australia. A five-session individualised lifestyle intervention delivered over 5 weeks incorporated nutritional counselling delivered by a dietitian.

Changing health workforce attitudes to promote improved physical health in mental health service users: Keeping our Staff in Mind (KoSiM).

Issue Addressed: People living with mental illness die on average 15 years earlier than the general population, primarily due to preventable and premature cardiovascular disease. Lifestyle interventions can be effective in reducing cardiovascular risk, yet mental health services do not routinely provide targeted lifestyle interventions. Exposing mental health staff to lifestyle interventions prior to targeting patients may be critical to changing culture and improving patient outcomes.

Cardio-metabolic risk in individuals prescribed long-acting injectable antipsychotic medication.

People living with severe mental illness (SMI) experience significant physical health co-morbidity. Few studies have focused on physical health outcomes for those prescribed long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotics. This observational cross-sectional study aimed to assess the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and other cardio-metabolic risk factors in a large cohort prescribed LAI and managed by community mental health services.

Is Obesity in Young People With Psychosis a Foregone Conclusion? Markedly Excessive Energy Intake Is Evident Soon After Antipsychotic Initiation.

Antipsychotic medication (APM) initiation is associated with rapid and substantial weight-gain and high rates of obesity. Obesity leads to premature onset of cardiometabolic diseases and contributes to the 15-20 year shortfall in life expectancy in those experiencing severe mental illness. Dietary energy intake excess is critical to weight management but is yet to be quantified in youth with first episode psychosis (FEP) receiving APM.