The status of preventive health services use and healthy lifestyle behaviours of patients registered at a community mental health centre

This study was conducted to determine the status of preventive health services use and healthy lifestyle behaviours of patients registered at a community mental health centre (CMHC).The sample of the cross-sectional study consisted of 138 patients registered at a CMHC affiliated with psychiatric hospital in Istanbul. Data were collected using two separate forms: "Information Form" and "Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors Scale II" (HLBS II, Independent t test, Oneway ANOVA test, Mann Whitney U test, Kruskal Wallis test and Spearman correlation analysis were applied to evaluate the data. 79.0% of the patients had a high body mass index (BMI) and 55.8% had at least one physical diagnosis. It was determined that 53.6% of the participants smoked, 78.3% did not consult a family physician for health check-up in the last year, and 59.4% did not exercise. The average score of the patients on HLBS II was 129.49±24.18, and it was determined that the highest score average was obtained from the 'spiritual development' and the lowest scale subscale average score was from the 'physical activity' subscale. It was found that there was a statistically significant difference between marital status and the mean scores of health responsibility, physical activity, spiritual development sub-dimension; the difference between educational status and the mean score of the physical activity sub-dimension was statistically significant. As a result, healthy lifestyle behaviours of patients registered at the CMHC are at an average level. Since most of them have physical illnesses and the use of preventive health services is low, it may be recommended that psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses periodically evaluate the physical health needs of patients, highlight health-protective and promoting interventions in these individuals, provide holistic care, and plan interventions that will bring positive behavioral changes. Keywords: Nurse, Preventive Health Service, Chronic Mental Illness, Healthy Lifestyle, Community Mental Health Centre.