Lifestyle Interventions for Overweight Adults With Severe Mental Illness in Shenzhen, China

Previous studies suggest that overweight is an important risk factor for life quality and mental health among patients with severe mental illness. Findings on Chinese adults regarding this issue are limited. Thus, we aim to assess the lifestyle intervention on life quality and mental health among overweight adults with severe mental illness in Shenzhen, China.

A total of 210 overweight adults with severe mental illness will be randomly allocated to two groups. Participants in the intervention groups will receive a 10-month lifestyle intervention while the control group will be waitlisted.

In the intervention group, participants will receive lifestyle education delivered by trained staffs from Wuhan university. The main objective of the lifestyle education is to raise participants' awareness regarding the health complications related to obesity and subsequently to promote weight loss through behavioural modifications. Participants will be advised to reduce energy intake by having three main meals and avoiding snacks; limiting intake of sugary food and beverages as well as fried and fatty foods; increasing intake of fruits and vegetables, etc. They will be asked to increase physical activity, aiming for a minimum 150 min of moderate-intensity exercise per week and/or 10,000 steps per day.

Outcome measurement include height, weight, blood pressure, dietary habits, sleep, physical activity, life quality, and mental health that will be measured by a group of trained investigator for all participants.