Dartmouth College Prevention Research Center

Theoretical Constructs Promoting Lasting Behavior Change

Description

The life expectancy of people with serious mental illness (SMI), approximately five to six percent of Americans, is an alarming 25–30 years less than that of the general population. The main cause of this early death is heart disease associated with risk factors that can be changed, such as obesity and smoking. Up to 80 percent of Americans with SMI smoke cigarettes and many develop related chronic health conditions. The obesity rate in adults with SMI is nearly 2-3 times that of the general population. Obesity and metabolic disorders among people with SMI are associated with high rates of inactive physical behaviors, poor nutrition, and antipsychotic medications that are associated with high weight gain, high cholesterol, and diabetes. People with SMI represent an important public health challenge because they are the highest-cost Medicare and Medicaid recipient group. They also account for high use of acute and long-term-care medical services and experience the greatest health disparity of any U.S. major population subgroup.

The Health Promotion Research Center at Dartmouth (HPRCD) will capitalize on the unique opportunity afforded by the statewide Center for Medicaid Services-funded program, “Healthy Choices, Healthy Changes”.  This program is a preference-based health promotion program that includes vouchers and cash incentives for health behavior change. The HPRCD will explore key factors associated with long-term weight reduction outcomes for 800 people with SMI who are obese or overweight and tobacco cessation outcomes for 400 people with SMI who are tobacco dependent. The HPRCD will focus on the personal, social, and environmental factors that influence sustained health behavior change. This study will evaluate long-term reduced heart disease-related risks for 1,200 adults with mental illness, obesity, and/or tobacco dependency and the sustainability and costs of integrated health promotion programs for weight loss and smoking cessation.

Project Identifier Theoretical Constructs Promoting Lasting Behavior Change

Funding Source PRC Program

Project Status Active

Host Institution Dartmouth College

Health Topics Obesity & overweight | Nutrition | Physical activity | Tobacco prevention & control

Project Identifier Theoretical Constructs Promoting Lasting Behavior Change

Funding Source PRC Program

Project Status Active

Host Institution Dartmouth College

Health Topics Obesity & overweight | Nutrition | Physical activity | Tobacco prevention & control

Research setting Community |Home

Race or ethnicity No specific focus

Gender No specific focus

Age group Young adults (18-24 years) |Adults (25-49 years) | Older adults (50 years and older)

Contact Information Center
Dartmouth Health Promotion Research Center
35 Centerra Parkway, Suite 202
Lebanon, NH 03766

Principal Investigator
Stephen Bartels, MD, MS
sbartels@Dartmouth.edu  

PRC Deputy Director
Anna M. Adachi-Mejia, PhD
Phone: (603) 653-6124
anna.m.adachi-mejia@dartmouth.edu