Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Weight Control Program for Mental Illness Patients on Medication -with example of a regional teaching hospital

[[abstract]]The lifetime prevalence rate of mental illness in Taiwan is 0.66%~0.97. Many researches have shown that mental illness patients have weight gain problem after taking antipsychotic drugs for a long time, thus, affecting the health and quality of life of those patients. Therefore, weight gain problem is worthy of prevention and interference since its significance is no less than the treatment of mental illness. The purpose of this study is to understand the effectiveness of providing patients and their family members correct knowledge on the illness and medication, guidance on proper exercise and healthy diet by a psychiatric team of a regional teaching hospital, including doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, and dieticians, on weight control in patients? daily life. The results showed that the experimental group had significant improvement on physical parts, blood sugar level, physical functions, and occupational functions after participating in the weight control team. Although the levels of triglyceride and cholesterol did not reach significant difference,a certain level of decrease was observed. Therefore, the 10-week weight control group could achieve certain weight control effect