Improving Practices of Mental Health Professionals in Recommending More Physical Activity and Less Sedentary Behaviour to Their Clients: An Intervention Trial. (4th March 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Shrestha, Nipun; Parker, Alexandra; Jurakic, Danijel; Biddle, Stuart J. H.; Pedisic, Zeljko
• Is Part Of: Issues in mental health nursing. Volume 43:Number 3(2022)
• Page Start: 258
• Page End: 264
• Publication Date: 2022-03-04
• Subjects: Psychiatric nursing -- Periodicals; Mental health personnel -- Periodicals; 616.89023105
• DOI: 10.1080/01612840.2021.1972189
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0161-2840

Abstract

Abstract: We investigated the effects of increasing physical activity (PA) and reducing sedentary behaviour (SB) of mental health professionals on their attitudes towards and practices in recommending more PA and less SB to their clients. A 4-week pre-post intervention trial was conducted involving 17 mental health professionals. The participants who increased their own physical activity during the intervention increased the frequency of recommending more PA ( p = 0.009) and less SB ( p = 0.005) to their clients. A relatively simple, low-cost intervention, consisting of group behaviour change counselling, goal setting and positive feedback, may improve the practices of mental health professionals. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840.2021.1972189 .