How can digital technology help close the mortality gap for people with severe mental illness?

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Lina Gega from the Closing the Gap Network explores a recent review of digital technology for health promotion, which looks at opportunities to address excess mortality in people living with severe mental illness.

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Smoking cessation for people with severe mental illness? “Oh yes they can!” SCIMITAR+

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David Shiers and Peter Byrne summarise the new SCIMITAR+ trial out today in The Lancet Psychiatry, which evaluates a bespoke smoking cessation intervention for people with severe mental illness.

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Can smoking cessation improve cognitive functioning in people with psychosis?

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Dafni Katsampa explores a recent prospective cohort study that investigates the association between smoking behaviour and cognitive functioning in patients with psychosis, their siblings and healthy control subjects.

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Psychosis and physical health: listening to patients and family carers

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Shuichi Suetani and Sharon Lawn explore a recent viewpoint article on physical health problems in psychosis, which asks: Is it time to consider the views of family carers?

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Physical activity participation in severe mental illness: one step closer? #ClosingTheGapSMI

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Suzan Hassan writes her debut elf blog on a recent research paper that highlights the factors associated with regular physical activity participation among people with severe mental illness.

Today sees the launch of the new Closing The Gap Network in York. Follow #ClosingTheGapSMI on Twitter for live updates throughout the day.

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Lifestyle training for schizophrenia: STEPWISE fails to make a difference

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Ben Janaway writes his debut elf blog on the STEPWISE RCT which is out today in the British Journal of Psychiatry: Structured lifestyle education for people with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and first-episode psychosis.

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Physical health inequalities in primary care

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Andy Bell from Centre for Mental Health and the Equally Well UK collaborative, calls for action in response to the Public Health England briefing on severe mental illness and physical health inequalities.

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Inhaling evidence about tobacco and psychosis

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Ian Hamilton explores a recent Finnish study of adolescent tobacco smoking and the risk of psychosis, which found that young people aged 15-16 who smoked more than 10 cigarettes a day were three times more likely to have psychosis by the time they reached age 30.

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People with severe mental illness have more adverse outcomes from medical or surgical treatment

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Laoise Renwick considers the findings of a recent systematic review on the safety of service users with severe mental illness receiving inpatient care on medical and surgical wards.

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Schizophrenia Commission report highlights what we can all do to improve care and understanding

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The research and campaigns relating to life outcomes for people with schizophrenia and psychosis are truly shocking. It seems unbelievable that people with schizophrenia face a lifespan 15-20 years shorter than the general population and that only 7% are able to hold down a job. Paul Jenkins from Rethink Mental Illness sums it up nicely: [read the full story…]