Impacts of Regular Exercise on Adaptive Daily Living among People with Chronic Schizophrenia

Background: Most people with chronic schizophrenia suffer from the deterioration of adaptive daily living, which is associated with impaired quality of life, sense of control, and poor prognosis of the illness. And thus, the maintenance of adaptive daily living is a focus of psycho-social care for people with schizophrenia. The benefits of regular exercise in enhancing physical well-being of people with chronic illness have been documented in the literature, however little is known on its impact on people with chronic schizophrenia. Purpose: To purpose of the study is to explore the effectiveness of a 12-week exercise program in improving daily living ability of Chinese with chronic schizophrenia receiving healthcare service in a residential setting. Methods: The study adopted a non-blind, 2-arm randomized-controlled study design. A total of 90 participants were recruited and randomized into either the 12-week Exercise Group or a Wait-List Control Group. Participants were surveyed before and immediate post-intervention on a measurement of adaptive daily living skills (ADL). Results: Findings suggested that significant Time x Group effects on the measurement of adaptive daily living (F(1, 91)=7.62, p ≤ .01) were found. Participants in the Exercise Group showed significant improvements in their adaptive daily living skills (T0: 94.04; T1: 98.94) at immediate post-intervention when compared with those who are in the Wait-List Control Group (T0: 95.98; T1: 95.87). Implications: Regular exercise regime improves the ability in adaptive daily living of people with chronic schizophrenia residing in a long-term care setting; whereas those who do not have a regular exercise regime showed deterioration in this aspect. Therefore, our finding implied that exercise appeared to reverse the deleterious effect of schizophrenia has on adaptive daily living; suggesting that the development of an exercise regime should be considered as part of the psycho-social support service for people with chronic schizophrenia to help them regain sense of control in their daily living