Strategies to Promote Walking Among Community-Dwelling Individuals With Major Mental Disorders

Abstract

Individuals with major mental disorders could benefit from low cost, functional ways to support healthy lifestyles. Walking is a popular, preferred, accessible, and safe physical activity for many people. Walking is free, requiring no specialized equipment or membership fee, and is important to support engagement in other daily living activities. The current study explores the benefits of walking and strategies for promoting walking among community-dwelling individuals with major mental disorders. Key issues include strengthening engagement, tracking progress, and sustaining participation to achieve goals related to walking. The authors propose ways that nurses can support increased walking behavior for improved health and well-being in this population. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 56(3), 25-32.].

Is There an Association between Physical Activity and Sleep in Community-Dwelling Persons with Dementia: An Exploratory Study Using Self-Reported Measures?

“…We also found that walking was the most popular form of PA in both the active and inactive groups. Our results showed 63.4% of active PWD and one-third of inactive PWD who engaged in walking did so every day, suggesting that waking may have become a habit of daily living for those who used it as a form of PA. As walking was shown to be an effective and popular way to obtain adequate amount of PA [30,31], interventions that target sedentary PWD to increase their walking frequency and duration may be beneficial. Our study further found that gardening and exercise class were also popular forms of PA among active PWD.…”