Physical Activity & WellnessJump Step - A Participatory Approach to Physical Activity & Mental Wellness

The WHO, the Pan American Health Organization, the EU Council of Ministers, the World Federation of Mental Health, and the UK Royal College of Psychiatrists all agree -"there can be no health without mental health". Within Canada, 6.7M people live with a mental illness and when family and caregivers are included almost everyone is affected.

A systematic review (2014) concluded that physical activity has a significant potential for reducing depressive symptoms in people with a mental illness. Globally, physical inactivity is "pandemic". Current guidelines recommend a minimum of only a 150 minutes a week of moderately vigorous exercise but 85% of Canadians do not meet the national recommendations. How then can people with depression be motivated to become physically more active?

Group Medical Visits (GMVs) can be used to provide health services and they have proven effective in some settings, including mood disorders. As well as providing economic and resource efficiencies, the GMV model has the potential to add a 'support group/accountability' element for behavioural interventions such as physical activity promotion; such influence is not present in an individual patient-physician consultation.

"Jump Step" is a 14-week program within a GMV setting designed to motivate and support people with depression to engage in regular physical activity. The investigators seek to design, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of the Group Medical Visits focused on promoting physical activity for patients with depression.