Supporting Patients with Psychosis in the Community To Stand Up and Move More: Perspectives of Community Mental Health Staff

People with psychosis typically show high levels of sedentary behaviour and low levels of physical activity. Effective interventions are needed, and staff will play a crucial role in implementation. Aims: To understand staff perspectives on reducing sedentary behaviour and increasing physical activity. Eighteen staff from NHS mental health trust community teams were interviewed, with data analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Four themes were developed: (1) Choosing to target movement: staff recognise the need to address movement but struggle to prioritise it; (2) Encouraging but not steamrolling: balancing encouragement without pushing too hard is essential for motivation; (3) Tapping the reservoir of staff knowledge: staff possess valuable expertise to leverage; (4) Using lived experience: lived experience accounts effectively motivate and inspire hope. Despite recognising the importance of the issue, limited resources in services hinders prioritisation of increasing patient movement, and interventions are often not attempted. Adapting routine practices and recruiting support (e.g. from willing carers) may increase intervention success without burdening staff.