The knowledge, barriers and opportunities to improve nutrition and physical activity amongst young people attending an Australian youth mental health service: a mixed-methods study

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Abstract

Background

Mental illnesses are the leading cause of disability in young people, and lifestyle interventions in young people at risk of mental illness remain a priority. Opportunities to improve nutrition and physical activity among young people through youth mental health services remain unclear. This study aimed to determine the knowledge and behaviors towards nutrition and physical activity, the barriers and enablers to improving behaviors, and the preferred providers and sources of information for nutrition and physical activity among a sample of young people attending a youth mental health service.

Methods

A mixed-method study was conducted in regional Tasmania, Australia in a sample of young people (15–25 years) attending a youth mental health service ( headspace). A quantitative survey ( n = 48) determined young people’s nutrition and physical activity knowledge, behaviors, barriers and enablers to achieving recommendations, and their preferred providers and sources of information. Structured interviews and a focus group further explored these concepts ( n = 8), including the role of the mental health service as a provider of this support.

Results

The majority of participants did not meet national recommendations for nutrition and physical activity, despite possessing a high level of knowledge regarding their importance for mental health. Improving mental health was a common enabling factor for participants choosing to alter diet and physical activity habits, but also the leading barrier for participating in physical activity. Young people wanted to receive information from reputable health providers, ideally through social media sources. headspace was seen as an important potential provider of this information.

Conclusions

Our results indicate that there is a clear need to improve diet and physical activity habits to enhance mental and physical health outcomes in this at-risk group, and youth mental health services could provide further interventions to support their clients. Specialized staff (e.g. dietitians and exercise physiologists) may provide additional benefits alongside existing mental health care support.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-022-08182-0.

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Most cited references 60

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Young people aged 10-24 years represent 27% of the world's population. Although important health problems and risk factors for disease in later life emerge in these years, the contribution to the global burden of disease is unknown. We describe the global burden of disease arising in young people and the contribution of risk factors to that burden. We used data from WHO's 2004 Global Burden of Disease study. Cause-specific disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) for young people aged 10-24 years were estimated by WHO region on the basis of available data for incidence, prevalence, severity, and mortality. WHO member states were classified into low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries, and into WHO regions. We estimated DALYs attributable to specific global health risk factors using the comparative risk assessment method. DALYs were divided into years of life lost because of premature mortality (YLLs) and years lost because of disability (YLDs), and are presented for regions by sex and by 5-year age groups. The total number of incident DALYs in those aged 10-24 years was about 236 million, representing 15·5% of total DALYs for all age groups. Africa had the highest rate of DALYs for this age group, which was 2·5 times greater than in high-income countries (208 vs 82 DALYs per 1000 population). Across regions, DALY rates were 12% higher in girls than in boys between 15 and 19 years (137 vs 153). Worldwide, the three main causes of YLDs for 10-24-year-olds were neuropsychiatric disorders (45%), unintentional injuries (12%), and infectious and parasitic diseases (10%). The main risk factors for incident DALYs in 10-24-year-olds were alcohol (7% of DALYs), unsafe sex (4%), iron deficiency (3%), lack of contraception (2%), and illicit drug use (2%). The health of young people has been largely neglected in global public health because this age group is perceived as healthy. However, opportunities for prevention of disease and injury in this age group are not fully exploited. The findings from this study suggest that adolescent health would benefit from increased public health attention. None. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Heather Bridgman: Heather.Bridgman@utas.edu.au

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMC Health Serv Res

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): BMC Health Serv Res

Title: BMC Health Services Research

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Electronic): 1472-6963

Publication date (Electronic): 17 June 2022

Publication date PMC-release: 17 June 2022

Publication date Collection: 2022

Volume: 22

Electronic Location Identifier: 789

Affiliations

[1 ]GRID grid.1009.8, ISNI 0000 0004 1936 826X, Centre for Rural Health, , University of Tasmania, ; Locked Bag 1322, Launceston, Tasmania 7250 Australia

[2 ]GRID grid.1009.8, ISNI 0000 0004 1936 826X, School of Health Sciences, , University of Tasmania, ; Launceston, Tasmania Australia

[3 ]GRID grid.1029.a, ISNI 0000 0000 9939 5719, School of Health Sciences, , Western Sydney University, ; Kingswood, New South Wales Australia

[4 ]GRID grid.1009.8, ISNI 0000 0004 1936 826X, Sport Performance Optimization Research Team, School of Health Sciences, College of Health and Medicine, , University of Tasmania, ; Launceston, Tasmania Australia

Article

Publisher ID: 8182

DOI: 10.1186/s12913-022-08182-0

PMC ID: 9205652

PubMed ID: 34974828

SO-VID: de4b0df0-1063-4c97-b498-dec26fdba113

License:

Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.

History

Date received : 21 February 2022

Date accepted : 7 June 2022

Custom metadata

ScienceOpen disciplines: Health & Social care

Keywords: mental health,service delivery,youth,adolescents,regional programs,community nutrition programs,community exercise programs,community physical activity programs

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Health & Social care

Keywords: mental health, service delivery, youth, adolescents, regional programs, community nutrition programs, community exercise programs, community physical activity programs

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The knowledge, barriers and opportunities to improve nutrition and physical activity amongst young people attending an Australian youth mental health service: a mixed-methods study

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Abstract

Background

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Results

Conclusions

Supplementary Information

Related collections

Emerald: Healthier Lives

Most cited references 60

International physical activity questionnaire: 12-country reliability and validity.

Self-determination theory: A macrotheory of human motivation, development, and health.

Global burden of disease in young people aged 10-24 years: a systematic analysis.

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