“CALCIAPENSIERI” PROJECT: AN ADD-ON TREATMENT IN THE MANAGEMENT OF SUBJECTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA

Abstract

Introduction If physical activity is a pivotal component of good health for everyone, there is an increasing emphasis on its importance for psychiatric patients affected from schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s dementia, major depressive disorder (Knochel et al. 2012). The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of soccer practice on the self reported health quality of life (SRHQL) and sports performance (SP) in psychotic subjects. Methods Eighteen schizophrenic male patients were randomized into either a trained (TG) and control group (CG). TG was trained for 12 weeks by two soccer training sessions/week. CG did not perform any regular sports activity during experimental period. Anthropometric measurements, SRHQL, personal time records in 30-meter sprint test (30-mST) and slalom test running with ball (STB) were evaluated before and after the experimental period. SRHQL was assessed using SF-12 questionnaire measuring physical (PCS- 12) and mental (MCS-12) component summary scores. Results After the training period, TG showed a relevant reduction by 4.6% in body- weight (BW) and body mass index (BMI) compared to baseline. On the contrary, CG showed an increased BW and BMI by 1.8% from baseline to post test. Moreover, at 12 weeks we found that control patients increased significantly their BW than trained ones (∆= 5.4%; p<0.05). After the training period, comparing baseline TG’s SF-12-scores to post-test results, we found an improvement by 10.5% and 10.8% in PCS and MCS respectively. In addition, 30-mST and STB performances of TG improved significantly (p<0.05) from baseline to post-test compared to CG. Discussion Soccer practice appears to be able to improve psychophysical health in schizophrenic subjects (Pringle, 2009). Indeed, our study showed that programmed soccer physical activity could reduce antipsychotic medication-related weight gain and improve SRHQL and SP in psychotic subjects. To sum up, the results of this study suggest some interesting implications on the educational and clinical field on the psychiatric rehabilitation. We suggest that it might be worth looking further into the need to plan multifaceted interventions aimed at combining traditional pharmacologic treatments and alternative behavioural methods such as physical activity. References Knochel, C, Oertel-Knochel V, O’Dwyer L, Prvulovic D, Alves G, Kollmann B, Hampel H. (2012). Prog Neurobiol. England, 2011 Elsevier Ltd. 96: 46-68. Pringle, A. (2009). J Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs. England. 16: 553-557.