Enabling healthy living: Experiences of people with severe mental illness in psychiatric outpatient services

Abstract

It is well known that people with severe mental illness have a reduced life expectancy and a greater risk of being affected by preventable physical illnesses such as metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. There are still, however, only a few published studies focusing on what enables healthy living for this group. This study thus aimed to describe what enables healthy living among people with severe mental illness in psychiatric outpatient services. The data were collected in qualitative interviews (n = 16) and content analysis was used to analyze the data. The interviews resulted in an overall theme “Being regarded as a whole human being by self and others”, which showed the multidimensional nature of health and the issues that enable healthy living among people with severe mental illness. Three categories emerged: (i) everyday structure (ii), motivating life events and (iii) support from significant others. The results indicate that a person with severe mental illness needs to be encountered as a whole person if healthy living is to be enabled. Attaining healthy living requires collaboration between the providers of care, help and support. Health care organizations need to work together to develop and provide interventions to enable healthy living and to reduce poor physical health among people with severe mental illness.

Mental health nurses’ experience of physical health care and health promotion initiatives for people with severe mental illness

“…Application of a salutogenic approach in mental health care is previously described by Langeland and Vinje (2017) who highlight social support and positive selfidentity as crucial resources for promoting health. Similar findings are emphasized in studies that described the experiences of what enables health for people with SMI (Blomqvist et al 2017). Nurses in the present study stress the importance of group activities not only to increase knowledge about healthy living but as a social contribution that can promote overall health; this is consistent with findings from Park et al (2017) where belonging in a group was emphasized as an influential factor for lifestyle changes.…”

Educational nurse‐led lifestyle intervention for persons with mental illness

“…The importance of interpersonal relationships, of being seen as a whole person, and of receiving support in daily life structure has been described (Blomqvist et al . ). Indeed, the quality of interpersonal relationships with healthcare staff is pivotal in supporting people with SMI.…”

Long-term psychiatric inpatients’ perspectives on weight gain, body satisfaction, diet and physical activity: a mixed methods study

“…The other papers also used qualitative methods to study health attitudes of people with SMI. Blomqvist and colleagues identified being seen as a whole human being (rather than a psychiatric patient) by self and others as the central theme in achieving a healthy lifestyle [ 13 ]. Sub-categories of this theme were having a normal everyday structure (healthy daily activities, sleep, diet), life events and social support, which provide motivation for healthy habits.…”