Community exercise program (FitMind) for patients with psychosis

Abstract

Recent studies found exercise can improve cognition and symptom of patients with psychosis in addition to their physical health. However, most of the exercise interventions were gymnasium-based and it is difficult to generalize the benefits to the community in which many patients cannot access the facilities. FitMind is a community exercise program designed to promote exercise habit in the community through easy-to-learn aerobic exercise. It consists of a set of 10 aerobic movements which could be linked up together to become interesting aerobic dance. Patients were recruited to go through a 12-week aerobic exercise program with volunteers to coach them to establish exercise habit. Volunteers did FitMind exercise with patients weekly and help to set goals of exercise habit each week, as well as reviewing patients' progress. In additional to volunteers support, pamphlets, videos and website were also provided to facilitate development of exercise habit. The impact of the FitMind program will be discussed.