Rationale, Component Description and Pilot Evaluation of a Physical Health Promotion Measure for People with Mental Disorders across Europe

Introduction: The HELPS project aimed at developing a toolkit for the promotion of physical health in people withmental disorders to reduce the substantial excess morbidity and mortality in the target group.Methods: The HELPS toolkit was developed by means of national and international literature reviews, Delphirounds with mental health experts and focus groups with mental health experts and patients/ residents in 14 Europeancountries. The toolkit was translated into the languages of all participating countries, and usability of toolkit moduleswas tested.Results: The toolkit consists of several modules addressing diverse somatic health problems, lifestyle, environmentissues, patient goals and motivation for health-promotion measures. It aims at empowering people with mental illnessand staff to identify physical health risks in their specific contexts and to select the most appropriate modules from arange of health promotion tools.Discussion: The HELPS project used an integrative approach to the development of simple tools for the targetpopulation and is available online in 14 European languages. Preliminary evidence suggests that the toolkit can beused in routine care settings and should be put to test in controlled trials to reveal its potential impact.