Effects of Gymnastics based Nursing Intervention on Stress, Obesity, and Mental Health Confidence in Patients with Chronic Mental Illness
Purpose: This quasi experimental study aimed to investigate the effects of gymnastics based nursing intervention on stress, obesity, and mental health confidence in patients with chronic mental illness. Methods: The study utilized the non equivalent control group pretest posttest design and recruited sixty patients with chronic mental illness who were registered at one of the two mental rehabilitation centers in D metropolitan city. Data were collected from May 2017 to August 2017. The experimental intervention was a gymnastics based program developed by the main investigator based on Bandura's self efficacy theory. The program was administered twice a week for a total of 16 sessions. Results: This study showed that subjective stress responses (z= 3.47, p=.001) physiological stress responses (z= 2.90, p=.004) body weight (F=3.55, p=.032) abdominal circumference (t= 2.19, p=.032) and optimism in the mental health confidence domain (t=2.27, p=.027) were significantly different in the experimental group and control group. But, results showed that body fat percentage (F=0.91, p=.406) was not significantly different in the experimental group and control group. Conclusion: The gymnastics based nursing intervention was effective in reducing stress, body weight, and abdominal circumference, and improving optimism in the mental health confidence domain in patients with chronic mental illness.