A new chapter
People with mental illness often have an unhealthier lifestyle and poorer physical health, contributing to a life expectancy about 15 years shorter. Mental healthcare usually focusses on symptom reduction, while clients indicate that personal and societal functioning are also important for their overall recovery. Such as having work or experiencing meaning in life. People can lead a good life, even when they have mental health symptoms.
To support all these areas of recovery, this dissertation examined what a lifestyle intervention can contribute for people with mental health illness. The combined lifestyle intervention for mental healthcare (CLI-MHC) developed at Lentis, called CHAPTER, supports participants in making healthy lifestyle changes in the areas of physical activity, nutrition, sleep, relaxation, spirituality, substance use, and social participation. The intervention uses small, achievable personal goals and can widely be implemented within specialist mental healthcare.
Two randomised pilot studies in clinical practice showed that the intervention is feasible. Participants were enthusiastic and noticed positive changes. They particularly valued elements that often receive less attention in other lifestyle programmes, such as relaxation and spirituality. Notably, changes were not limited to mental or physical health, but were especially visible in other aspects of recovery: participants became less self critical and better able to set boundaries. The programme also appears to be a worthwhile investment in terms of costs and benefits. Larger-scale follow-up research is needed to confirm its (cost-)effectiveness, explore how CHAPTER can be sustainably embedded in mental healthcare.