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Effects of a walking program in the psychiatric in-patient treatment setting: a cohort study.

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posted on 2007-04-01, 00:00 authored by F Ng, Seetal DoddSeetal Dodd, Felice JackaFelice Jacka, Evie Leslie, Michael BerkMichael Berk
Issue addressed: To assess the effectiveness of a walking program in a psychiatric in-patient unit. Method: In-patients at a private psychiatric unit were offered the opportunity to participate in a daily morning 40 minute walk led by an activity supervisor. After discharge, outcomes for patients who had regularly participated in the walking group (n=35) and patients who had not participated (n=49) were compared for length of stay during their period of admission and Clinical Global Impression - Severity (CGI-S) and  Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) scores measured at admission and discharge. This was a retrospective analysis of data collected routinely. Results: There were no significant differences between the two cohorts on most primary outcome measures, including length of stay, DASS scores at admission and at discharge and CGI-S scores at admission. Patients who had not participated in the walking group had a significantly lower score on a single measure, the CGI-S, than patients who had participated (p=0.001). Conclusions: This study showed no evidence that in-patients benefited from participating in the physical activity program. However, this must be  interpreted within the confines of a number of study limitations and, as such, the findings can neither support nor refute the effectiveness of physical activities.

History

Journal

Health promotion journal of Australia

Volume

18

Issue

1

Pagination

39 - 42

Publisher

Australian Association of Health Promotion Professionals

Location

West Perth, W.A.

ISSN

1036-1073

eISSN

1753-6405

Language

eng

Notes

Reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright owner.

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2007, Australian Association of Health Promotion Professionals

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