Adults with serious mental illness (SMI) including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder experience a 15-30 year reduced life expectancy primarily due to modifiable cardiovascular risk factors that can be effectively addressed with behavioral lifestyle interventions. Lifestyle interventions have reduced obesity-related cardiovascular risk in upwards of 50% of adults with SMI in effectiveness studies conducted in real world mental health settings; however, lifestyle interventions are rarely sustained once research projects are completed.
A team lead by alum Kelly Aschbrenner, Ph,D. ‘07 now at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College has been awarded a research grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) building on over a decade of Dartmouth-led research to study the long-term sustainment of an evidence-based lifestyle intervention in 39 mental organizations across the U.S.
Kelly’s study focuses on long-term sustainment of InSHAPE, the only evidence-based lifestyle intervention for adults with SMI that has been tested multiple times and has been implemented in numerous mental health programs in the U.S. The study will identify factors, including fidelity and adaptation, that influence long-term sustainment of an evidence-based intervention in mental health organizations and build on these findings to develop, evaluate, and refine sustainment strategies for future research and practice.