scholarly journals A Facebook delivered, mental health informed physical activity intervention for first responders and their partners: A pilot study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace McKeon ◽  
Zachary Steel ◽  
Ruth Wells ◽  
Jill Newby ◽  
Dusan Hadzi-Pavlovic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
Time Series ◽  
First Responders ◽  
Multiple Time ◽  
Multiple Time Series ◽  
Physical Activity Interventions ◽  
Series Design

UNSTRUCTURED First-responders (e.g. police, firefighters, paramedics) are at high risk of experiencing poor mental health. Physical activity interventions can help reduce symptoms and improve mental health in this group. More research is however needed to evaluate accessible, low cost ways of delivering programs. Social media may be a potential platform for delivering group-based physical activity interventions. We co-designed a 10-week online physical activity program delivered via a private Facebook group. We provided education and motivation around different weekly topics (e.g. goal setting and reducing sedentary behaviour) and provided participants with a Fitbit. We aimed to examine the feasibility and acceptability of the program for first-responders and a nominated informal caregiver to participate with them. We also explored the impact on mental health symptoms, sleep quality, quality of life and physical activity levels. A multiple time series design was applied to assess levels of psychological distress, with participants acting as their own control prior to the intervention. Twenty-four participants (n=12 first responders and n=12 nominated support partners) were recruited and 88% (n=21) completed the post assessment questionnaires. High acceptability was observed in the qualitative interviews. Exploratory analyses found significant reductions in psychological distress across the intervention. Pre and post analysis showed significant improvements in quality of life (Cohen’s d=0.603), total depression, anxiety and stress scores (d=0.354) and minutes of walking (d=0.549). Changes in perceived social support to exercise and sleep quality were not significant. The results provide preliminary support for the use of social media and a multiple-time series design to deliver mental health informed physical activity interventions for first-responders and their informal caregivers.

scholarly journals A Mental Health–Informed Physical Activity Intervention for First Responders and Their Partners Delivered Using Facebook: Mixed Methods Pilot Study

10.2196/23432 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. e23432
Author(s):  
Grace McKeon ◽  
Zachary Steel ◽  
Ruth Wells ◽  
Jill Newby ◽  
Dusan Hadzi-Pavlovic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
Time Series ◽  
First Responders ◽  
Multiple Time ◽  
Multiple Time Series ◽  
Physical Activity Interventions ◽  
Series Design ◽  
Time Series Design

Background First responders (eg, police, firefighters, and paramedics) are at high risk of experiencing poor mental health. Physical activity interventions can help reduce symptoms and improve mental health in this group. More research is needed to evaluate accessible, low-cost methods of delivering programs. Social media may be a potential platform for delivering group-based physical activity interventions. Objective This study aims to examine the feasibility and acceptability of delivering a mental health–informed physical activity program for first responders and their self-nominated support partners. This study also aims to assess the feasibility of applying a novel multiple time series design and to explore the impact of the intervention on mental health symptoms, sleep quality, quality of life, and physical activity levels. Methods We co-designed a 10-week web-based physical activity program delivered via a private Facebook group. We provided education and motivation around different topics weekly (eg, goal setting, overcoming barriers to exercise, and reducing sedentary behavior) and provided participants with a Fitbit. A multiple time series design was applied to assess psychological distress levels, with participants acting as their own control before the intervention. Results In total, 24 participants (12 first responders and 12 nominated support partners) were recruited, and 21 (88%) completed the postassessment questionnaires. High acceptability was observed in the qualitative interviews. Exploratory analyses revealed significant reductions in psychological distress during the intervention. Preintervention and postintervention analysis showed significant improvements in quality of life (P=.001; Cohen d=0.60); total depression, anxiety, and stress scores (P=.047; Cohen d=0.35); and minutes of walking (P=.04; Cohen d=0.55). Changes in perceived social support from family (P=.07; Cohen d=0.37), friends (P=.10; Cohen d=0.38), and sleep quality (P=.28; Cohen d=0.19) were not significant. Conclusions The results provide preliminary support for the use of social media and a multiple time series design to deliver mental health–informed physical activity interventions for first responders and their support partners. Therefore, an adequately powered trial is required. Trial Registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN): 12618001267246; https://anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?ACTRN=12618001267246.

scholarly journals Mental health informed physical activity for first responders and their support partner: a protocol for a stepped-wedge evaluation of an online, codesigned intervention

BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. e030668 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace McKeon ◽  
Zachary Steel ◽  
Ruth Wells ◽  
Jill M Newby ◽  
Dusan Hadzi-Pavlovic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
First Responders ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Post Traumatic

BackgroundFirst responders (police, fire and ambulance officers) are at a significantly increased risk of experiencing poor mental health, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. These conditions are associated with high rates of cardiovascular disease, in part due to low levels of physical activity (PA) and high levels of sedentary behaviour. Using a person’s social support system may be an effective solution to help increase PA levels to improve mental and physical health outcomes. We will examine the efficacy of a group-based online intervention in increasing PA in first responders and their support partners, iteratively codesigned with advisors with lived experience of mental illness among first responders.MethodsThis study will recruit a convenience sample of self-identified sedentary first responders and their self-selected support partners to a 10-week PA programme delivered through a private Facebook group. We will deliver education on predetermined topics related to PA and diet and provide participants with an activity tracker (Fitbit). A stepped-wedged design will be applied to compare multiple baselines to intervention and follow-up phases within subjects. Five cohorts of n=20 will be recruited, with each cohort randomised to a different baseline length. Our primary outcome will be psychological distress (Kessler-6). Secondary outcomes include feasibility, self-report and objective PA data (Simple Physical Activity Questionnaire and Fitbit accelerometry), depression and anxiety (Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 items), post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTSD Checklist for DSM-5), quality of life Assessment of Quality of Life-6 dimensions, sleep quality (The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), suicidal ideation (Suicidal Ideation Attributes Scale) and social support for exercise. The mobile data collection platform MetricWire will be used.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval was obtained from the University of New South Wales, Deupty Vice-Chancellor Research, Human Research Ethics Committee on 3 June 2019, HC180561. Findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals and disseminated at national conferences.Trial registration numberACTRN12619000877189.

ORBITS

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 294-306
Author(s):  
Mourad Khayati ◽  
Ines Arous ◽  
Zakhar Tymchenko ◽  
Philippe Cudré-Mauroux
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Linear Time ◽  
Multiple Time ◽  
Multiple Time Series ◽  
Online Data ◽  
Incremental Computation ◽  
Online Recovery ◽  
Recovery Technique ◽  
Centroid Decomposition

With the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT), time series streams have become ubiquitous in our daily life. Recording such data is rarely a perfect process, as sensor failures frequently occur, yielding occasional blocks of data that go missing in multiple time series. These missing blocks do not only affect real-time monitoring but also compromise the quality of online data analyses. Effective streaming recovery (imputation) techniques either have a quadratic runtime complexity, which is infeasible for any moderately sized data, or cannot recover more than one time series at a time. In this paper, we introduce a new online recovery technique to recover multiple time series streams in linear time. Our recovery technique implements a novel incremental version of the Centroid Decomposition technique and reduces its complexity from quadratic to linear. Using this incremental technique, missing blocks are efficiently recovered in a continuous manner based on previous recoveries. We formally prove the correctness of our new incremental computation, which yields an accurate recovery. Our experimental results on real-world time series show that our recovery technique is, on average, 30% more accurate than the state of the art while being vastly more efficient.

scholarly journals Small effort, high impact: Focus on physical activity improves oxygen uptake (VO2peak ), quality of life, and mental health after pediatric renal transplantation

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. e13242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hjørdis Thorsteinsdottir ◽  
Trond H. Diseth ◽  
Anine Lie ◽  
Trine Tangeraas ◽  
Iren Matthews ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
Renal Transplantation ◽  
Oxygen Uptake ◽  
High Impact ◽  
Pediatric Renal Transplantation

Effect of interventions using physical activity trackers on physical activity in people aged 60 years and over: a systematic review and meta-analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (20) ◽  
pp. 1188-1194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliana S Oliveira ◽  
Cathie Sherrington ◽  
Elizabeth R Y Zheng ◽  
Marcia Rodrigues Franco ◽  
Anne Tiedemann
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Older People ◽  
Activity Levels ◽  
Activity Tracker ◽  
Activity Trackers ◽  
The Impact

BackgroundOlder people are at high risk of physical inactivity. Activity trackers can facilitate physical activity. We aimed to investigate the effect of interventions using activity trackers on physical activity, mobility, quality of life and mental health among people aged 60+ years.MethodsFor this systematic review, we searched eight databases, including MEDLINE, Embase and CENTRAL from inception to April 2018. Randomised controlled trials of interventions that used activity trackers to promote physical activity among people aged 60+ years were included in the analyses. The study protocol was registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42017065250.ResultsWe identified 23 eligible trials. Interventions using activity trackers had a moderate effect on physical activity (23 studies; standardised mean difference (SMD)=0.55; 95% CI 0.40 to 0.70; I2=86%) and increased steps/day by 1558 (95% CI 1099 to 2018 steps/day; I2=92%) compared with usual care, no intervention and wait-list control. Longer duration activity tracker-based interventions were more effective than short duration interventions (18 studies, SMD=0.70; 95% CI 0.47 to 0.93 vs 5 studies, SMD=0.14; 95% CI −0.26 to 0.54, p for comparison=0.02). Interventions that used activity trackers improved mobility (three studies; SMD=0.61; 95% CI 0.31 to 0.90; I2=10%), but not quality of life (nine studies; SMD=0.09; 95% CI −0.07 to 0.25; I2=45%). Only one trial included mental health outcomes and it reported similar effects of the activity tracker intervention compared with control.ConclusionsInterventions using activity trackers improve physical activity levels and mobility among older people compared with control. However, the impact of activity tracker interventions on quality of life, and mental health is unknown.

Encouraging regular physical activity for hormone-receptor positive breast cancer patients to improve mental and physical health during treatment and survivorship.

2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (28_suppl) ◽  
pp. 91-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corinne Jordan ◽  
Alicia Klepsa
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Physical Health ◽  
Health Survey ◽  
Clinical Stage ◽  
Wellness Coaching

91 Background: Physical inactivity has direct effects on risk of chronic diseases, mental health, quality of life, and early mortality. Women that engage in physical activity after a breast cancer diagnosis may reduce the risk of recurrence and death from this disease. This study examines postmenopausal women with clinical stage I or II breast cancer using the Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS) 10 – Global Health Survey, Fitbit Flex, and regular Wellness Coaching. Methods: Our prospective study follows clinical stage I/II, postmenopausal, ER+, Her2- women with BMI > or = to 25 beginning at their surgical consultation. Visits occur again post-operatively, six months after consultation, and again at one year. Each patient was given a Fitbit Flex with the expectation to complete 7,000 steps daily, and weekly Wellness Coaching. At each visit, a record of their activity was recorded including steps, heartrate, blood pressure, and body mass index. Quality of life was also assessed using PROMIS 10 - Global Health Survey. Results: 19 patients have enrolled. 100% of patients on study had BMI stay the same or decrease from initial consult to postop visit. 66% gained weight from initial postop visit to 6 months. 47% of patients met the daily goal of 7,000 steps. 80% showed significant increase in mental health scores and 60% increased physical health scores by PROMIS 10. Conclusions: Encouraging regular physical activity during treatment and survivorship for breast cancer can improve mental health and physical well-being during breast cancer treatment. Regular wellness coaching can support patients to reach their physical and mental health goals during treatment and survivorship.

scholarly journals Relationship Among Physical Activity Level, Mood and Anxiety States and Quality of Life in Physical Education Students

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandro Legey ◽  
Filipe Aquino ◽  
Murilo Khede Lamego ◽  
Flavia Paes ◽  
Antônio Egídio Nardi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
Physical Education ◽  
Physical Activity Level ◽  
Activity Level ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Physical Education Students ◽  
The Relationship

Background:Physical activity level (PAL) is known to play an important role in reducing risk factors associated with sedentarism, in addition to improving the mental health and health-related quality of life (HRQL).Objective:Investigate the relationship of PAL and their domains with HRQL, mood state (MS) and anxiety.Method: 140 Physical Education students (23.6 ± 3.7 years) were evaluated. The Baecke Habitual Physical Activity and Quality of Life (QOL-36) questionnaires, State-Trait Anxiety Inventories (STAI-S and STAI-T) and Profile of Mood States (POMS) scale were used to investigate PAL, HRQL and mental health indicators. Pearson’s correlation coefficient examined the association between PAL and both mental health and HRQL parameters.Results:There was a correlation between state anxiety and both the domain leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) (p = 0.013) and total PAL score (p = 0.010). In relation to MS, a negative correlation was found between LTPA and total mood disorder (TMD) (p = 0.004). However, there were positive correlations between the vigor subscale and both LTPA (p=0.001) and total PAL (p=0.019). With respect to HRQL, analysis of the relationship between LTPA and total PAL demonstrated positive coefficients with the physical component summary (PCS) (p=0.000; p = 0.005), mental component summary (MCS) (p = 0.000; p = 0.006) and total HRQL (p = 0.000; p = 0.003).Conclusion:The findings suggest that the rise in LTPA was related to an increase in HRQL and MS. However, PAL was positively related to anxiety.

scholarly journals Mental Health, Physical Activity, and Quality of Life of US Adolescent Athletes During COVID-19–Related School Closures and Sport Cancellations: A Study of 13 000 Athletes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy A. McGuine ◽  
Kevin M. Biese ◽  
Labina Petrovska ◽  
Scott J. Hetzel ◽  
Claudia Reardon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
Functional Activity ◽  
Depression Symptoms ◽  
Adolescent Athletes ◽  
School Closures ◽  
Quality Of Life Inventory ◽  
Life Inventory

Context In the spring of 2020, US schools closed to in-person teaching and sports were cancelled to control the transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). It is critical to understand the mental and physical health of adolescent athletes during this time. Objective To describe the health of athletes during COVID-19–related school closures and sport cancellations. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting A national sample recruited via social media. Patients or Other Participants A total of 13 002 US adolescent athletes (age = 16.3 ± 1.2 years, females = 52.9%, males = 47.0%) completed an anonymous online survey. Main Outcome Measure(s) Demographic information collected was sex, grade, sport(s) played, and zip code. Assessments used were the General Anxiety Disorder 7-Item for anxiety, Patient Health Questionnaire 9-Item for depression, the Pediatric Functional Activity Brief Scale for physical activity, and the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 for quality of life. Mental health, physical activity, and health-related quality-of-life variables were compared among sex, grade, sport(s) played, and poverty level using means and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) from the survey-weighted analysis of variance. Results Females reported a higher prevalence of moderate to severe anxiety symptoms (females = 43.7% versus males = 28.2%). The Pediatric Functional Activity Brief Scale score was highest (best) for grade 9 (mean = 14.5, 95% CI = 14.0, 15.0) and lowest for grade 11 (mean = 10.9, 95% CI = 10.5, 11.3. The prevalence of depression symptoms was highest in team sport (74.1%) and lowest in individual sport (64.9%) participants. The total Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory score was lowest (worst) for athletes from counties with the highest poverty levels (high: mean = 74.5, 95% CI = 73.7, 75.3; middle: mean = 78.9, 95% CI = 78.0, 79.8; and low: mean = 78.3, 95% CI = 77.4, 79.1). Conclusions The health of US adolescents during the COVID-19–related school closures and sport cancellations varied to differing degrees depending on sex, grade level, type of sport participation, and level of poverty. Health policy experts should consider these findings in the future when creating and implementing policies to improve the health of adolescents in the United States.

Incorporating Exercise Professionals in Mental Health Settings: An Australian Perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamish Fibbins ◽  
Oscar Lederman ◽  
Rachel Morell ◽  
Bonnie Furzer ◽  
Kemi Wright ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Premature Mortality ◽  
Health Organizations ◽  
Physical Activity Interventions ◽  
Mental Health Settings

ABSTRACT Low rates of physical activity, in addition to other poor physical health behaviors, contribute to lower quality of life and increased rates of premature mortality for people living with mental illness. Physical activity reduces this mortality gap while simultaneously improving mood, cognitive function, and symptomology for a variety of psychiatric disorders. While physical activity programs are feasible and acceptable in this population, significant barriers exist that limit long-term adherence. Accredited exercise physiologists (AEPs) are best-placed in Australia to lead physical activity interventions for people living with mental illness. Additionally, AEPs provide an important role in improving culture change within mental health settings by influencing clinicians' attitudes to physical activity interventions. Leading international mental health organizations should collaborate and promote the role of physical activity to increase the provision of such services to people living with mental illness.

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