Background: People with severe mental illness (SMI) are sedentary, have high cardiometabolic risks and significantly reduced life expectancy compared to the general population.

Objectives: To evaluate feasibility and acceptability of the implementation of a novel collaboration between a mental health residential rehabilitation service with exercise physiology (EP) and dietetic students to deliver a 12-week healthy lifestyle intervention.

Methods: We conducted a single-arm prospective pilot study for patients with SMI at two sites: the Coorparoo and Logan Continuing Care Units. Participants were asked to engage in three sessions per week of an exercise program supervised by senior EP students and attend six group nutrition classes delivered by dietetics students. The primary outcome was feasibility and acceptability. Secondary outcomes included functional exercise capacity, metabolic data and a range of other mental and physical health outcomes.

Results: Of the potentially eligible participants, 50% enrolled. There was broad level acceptance: 20 participants (74%) completed the program. Participants attended an average of 64.5% of PA sessions and 75% of the nutrition classes. Of those who completed the program, there were promising improvements in functional exercise capacity, negative symptoms of schizophrenia and volume of exercise. Metabolic outcomes were unchanged.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest healthy lifestyle programs delivered by EP and dietetics students using a novel, low-cost, naturalistic real-world design appear acceptable and feasible for people with SMI in a residential rehabilitation setting. Individual dietary intervention sessions over a longer period may be required to produce significant change in metabolic outcomes in people with SMI.