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Abstract
Background
Premature mortality in individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) is largely due to high rates of chronic health conditions. Although exercise has been shown to improve health in this population, scalable and accessible interventions are limited.
Aim
To examine the impact of Physical Activity Can Enhance Life (PACE-Life), a novel walking intervention, on physical activity, and on secondary outcomes of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), physical health, autonomous motivation, social support, and quality of life.
Method
Sixteen individuals with SSDs were enrolled in a 10-week open trial. The intervention included walking groups, home-based walks, Fitbit use, and goal-setting and if-then plans. Within-group effect sizes were calculated to represent changes from baseline to post-test and 1-month follow-up.
Results
Participants increased self-reported weekly walking minutes and decreased daily hours spent sitting; however, Fitbit-recorded exercise behavior changed only minimally. There were also improvements in secondary outcomes including autonomous motivation and hip circumference. CRF improved only minimally, and findings were relatively unchanged with outliers removed from the full sample.
Conclusions
This open trial demonstrates modest improvements in key parameters of exercise behavior and physical health from participating in PACE-Life. Future research should assess the efficacy of this intervention in a randomized controlled trial.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all of the individuals who participated in this study as well as staff at the Schizophrenia Treatment and Evaluation Program (STEP) and Outreach and Support Intervention Services (OASIS) for their help and support conducting this study. We would also like to thank Lana Nye, Grace Lee Simmons, and Hasan Mustafic for leading walking groups and aiding in data collection and management.