Fitbits help boost health of patients with psychosis
An initiative to help people with experience of mental illness to become more physically active and have a better night’s sleep, by using Fitbits and setting goals, is proving a big success.
The Well-Track initiative emerged from a collaboration with Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust’s Research and Innovation team and its NSTEP early intervention psychosis and at-risk mental state (ARMS) teams. Well-track empowers patients to improve their levels of physical activity and ‘sleep hygiene’ – the healthy habits, behaviours and environmental factors that can be adjusted to help improve sleep.
Patients are provided with a wearable activity and sleep tracker (a Fitbit), a brief motivational interview, a goal-setting workbook, and guidance on sleep and physical activity, and links to local community physical activity resources and groups.
Patients then use these resources as part of their everyday lives, and clinical colleagues engage with them and provide support at three points. Patients are asked about changes they have made and the impact of these changes, staff provide feedback and encouragement.
NSTEP and ARMS staff deliver Well-Track to their patients, and health coach Alice Sheldon is providing Well-Track in NHFT’s severe mental illness (SMI) physical health check service.
Alice said: “I’m super excited to be involved in Well-Track. I’m a huge advocate for the health benefits of simple lifestyle changes and I love how this project provides a robust framework to support patients make these changes.”
Results have been very positive; participants have successfully set goals, made lifestyle changes to their daily routine, and integrated the Fitbit and its functions into their lives. This has resulted in more physical activity, more social engagement, enabled more effective sleep, and improved quality of life and wellbeing.
The project is led by NHFT’s Dr Chris Griffiths (R&I) and Gerry Smith (SMI physical health check team lead), intervention and evaluation is funded with support from NHS National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Clinical Research Network East Midlands and a supply of Fitbits from Northamptonshire Health Charity.
Alice added: “Following their Physical Health Check appointment patients are offered the opportunity to work with me over an eight-week period. They are given a Charge 5 Fitbit fitness and sleep tracker and supported over three 60-minute health coaching sessions to prioritise their personal health and well-being goals.
“Once patients have got over the surprise of being given their own tracker to keep free of charge, they quickly become engaged in how to best use it to make health improvements. Some find the movement reminders and daily step counts really motivating. Others love the fact that the tracker is 100 per cent waterproof and can record their swimming activities. The sleep data is also very popular as disrupted sleep is a very common and debilitating problem. The tracker not only records the amount of sleep each night but also the quality.
Alice added: “What I love most about Well-Track is how it empowers patients to take control of their own health. The tracker gives them real-life information and through the coaching sessions, they learn how to use this information to make positive changes. This boosts not just their health but also their self-confidence.
“I have seen patients aged between early 20s to mid-60s with a variety of mental health diagnoses and seen noticeable benefits. I sincerely hope we can continue to expand this project to reach more SMI patients.”
Read more about Innovation and Research projects here.