Abstract des Autors

Objective
The objective of the study was to evaluate whether a motivational–volitional intervention program offered in addition to an existing sport program during stationary treatment is capable of establishing a post-stationary increase in physical activity in persons with mental illness.

Methods
N = 112 in-patients were initially randomly assigned to the control group (CG; standard rehabilitation) or intervention group (IG; standard rehabilitation plus intervention). Assessments were conducted at four measurement points.

Results
At 6 months follow up, the level of exercise in the IG was 95 min/week higher than in the CG (p = .02). The participants of the IG were able to increase their level of goal intention until 6 months follow up (t2: p = .03; t4: p = .005); levels of self-efficacy of the IG increased during intervention (t2: p = .001). Changes in volitional aspects were significant over time (t1–t3), but not specifically for the IG.

Conclusions
The intervention was effective at increasing the level of physical activity in patients with mental illness who were initially minimally active.

Practice implications
Our results suggest that it could be of great use to place the emphasis of a physical activity-enhancing intervention on its motivational effect since volitional aspects are already taken into sufficient account in standard rehabilitation.