Peer health coaching for overweight and obese individuals with serious mental illness: intervention development and initial feasibility study.

Effective and scalable interventions are needed to reach a greater proportion of individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) who experience alarmingly high rates of obesity. This pilot study evaluated the feasibility of translating an evidenced-based professional health coach model (In SHAPE) to peer health coaching for overweight and obese individuals with SMI. Key stakeholders collaborated to modify In SHAPE to include a transition from professional health coaching to individual and group-based peer health coaching enhanced by mobile health technology. Ten individuals with SMI were recruited from a public mental health agency to participate in a 6-month feasibility pilot study of the new model. There was no overall significant change in mean weight; however, over half (56 %) of participants lost weight by the end of the intervention with mean weight loss 2.7 ± 2.1 kg. Participants reported high satisfaction and perceived benefits from the program. Qualitative interviews with key stakeholders indicated that the intervention was implemented as planned. This formative research showed that peer health coaching for individuals with SMI is feasible. Further research is needed to evaluate its effectiveness.