Exercise-based Program for Rehabilitation of Veterans With Severe Mental Illness
VA Office of Research and Development
Summary
This is a hybrid1, effectiveness-implementation study of yoga-based exercises (YE) as an adjunctive tool for rehabilitation among persons with Severe Mental Illness (SMI). The two-arm randomized controlled trial will compare the efficacy of YE compared to the Wellness Lifestyle Program (WLP). Primary outcomes of the study will be self-report and performance-based measures of community functioning, defined in the investigators study as social, leisure, employment, and life skills functioning in the community. Secondary outcomes will include cognition and physical fitness measures.
Description
This study will examine Yoga-based Exercise (YE) as a rehabilitation tool for Veterans with Severe Mental Illness (SMI), defined as schizophrenia (SZ), schizoaffective disorder (SZA), and Bipolar 1 disorder (BP1), with or without co-morbid history of alcohol use disorders (AUD) or substance use disorders (SUD). The study will evaluate factors associated with engagement in and uptake of YE among Veterans with SMI. This is a randomized controlled trial of YE that will examine factors that could facilitate or impede implementation of YE among Veterans with SMI. Aim 1. Adapt YE protocols for Vete…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18–70 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: * Written informed consent; * age 18-70 years; * DSM-5 diagnosis of * schizophrenia, * schizoaffective disorder, * bipolar 1 disorder, * DSM-5 diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or bipolar 1 disorder including those with a co-morbid * alcohol use disorder or substance use disorder; * clinically stable; * clinical global impression-severity (CGI-S) scores mild to moderately ill Exclusion Criteria: * Unable to provide written informed consent; * intellectual disability (i.e., severe enough to impact understanding of yoga-based exercises) base…
Interventions
- OtherYoga-based Exercise (YE)
The Yoga-based Exercise (YE) intervention is a series of yoga-based poses that consists of sitting, standing, kneeling, and lying postures as well as breathing exercises. The duration of the intervention will be 12 months. Participants will engage in yoga-based exercise sessions lasting 60 minutes twice a week for the first 12 weeks (3 months) of the project. The following 12 weeks, participants will engage in yoga-based exercises once a week. The remainder of the study (6 months), participants will engage in yoga-based exercises once a month.
- OtherWellness Lifestyle Program (WLP)
The Wellness Lifestyle Program (WLP) is a comprehensive lifestyle program that consists of 30 minutes of educational information covering various topics, such as nutrition, healthy living, stress reduction, and more will be followed by 30 minutes of low-intensity exercise such as walking. The duration of the intervention will be 12 months. Participants will engage in the 60 minute WLP session twice a week for the first 12 weeks (3 months) of the project. The following 12 weeks, participants will engage in WLP sessions once a week. The remainder of the study (6 months), participants will engage in WLP sessions once a month.
Location
- VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System University Drive Division, Pittsburgh, PAPittsburgh, Pennsylvania