Effects of a walking program in the psychiatric in-patient treatment setting: a cohort study.

ISSUE ADDRESSED To assess the effectiveness of a walking program in a psychiatric in-patient unit. METHOD In-patients at a private psychiatric unit were offered the opportunity to participate in a daily morning 40- minute walk led by an activity supervisor. After discharge, outcomes for patients who had regularly participated in the walking group (n=35) and patients who had not participated (n=49) were compared for length of stay during their period of admission and Clinical Global Impression-Severity (CGI-S) and Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) scores measured at admission and discharge. This was a retrospective analysis of data collected routinely. RESULTS There were no significant differences between the two cohorts on most primary outcome measures, including length of stay, DASS scores at admission and at discharge and CGI-S scores at admission. Patients who had not participated in the walking group had a significantly lower score on a single measure, the CGI-S, than patients who had participated (p=0.001). CONCLUSIONS This study showed no evidence that in-patients benefited from participating in the physical activity program. However, this must be interpreted within the confines of a number of study limitations and, as such, the findings can neither support nor refute the effectiveness of physical activities.