Background
Substantial weight gain is common in people taking antipsychotics. NICE recommends these patients
are offered physical health screening and intervention. The STEPWISE trial is currently evaluating a
lifestyle education programme in addition to usual care. However, it is difficult to define what
constitutes “usual care”.
Aims
To define “usual care” for lifestyle management in people with schizophrenia, schizoaffective
disorder and first episode psychosis in STEPWISE study sites.
Method
Ten NHS Mental Health Trusts participated in a bespoke survey based on NICE guidance.
Results
Eight trusts reported offering lifestyle education programmes. Nine Trusts reported offering smoking
cessation support. Reported recording of biomedical measures varied.
Conclusions
No consistent lifestyle education programme is currently offered across UK NHS Mental Health
Trusts. The survey benchmarks ‘usual care’ for the STEPWISE study on which changes can be
measured.
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)