A study by two Indiana University Bloomington professors in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation is beginning to suggest how people with severe and persistent mental illnesses live their everyday lives.
SPMI is a condition in which disorders such as bipolar disorder and, particularly, schizophrenia affect daily living. Building upon studies suggesting that people with SPMI fare better in developing countries than in the United States, associate professors Bryan McCormick, in the Department of Recreation and Park Administration, and Georgia Frey, in the Department of Kinesiology, recruited study participants from community mental health programs in both the American Midwest and Serbia.
McCormick and Frey asked study participants to wear motion sensors to record physical activity continuously for seven consecutive days. During the same seven days, participants also wore watches programmed to signal seven times daily at random intervals. At the signal, participants were to note in a booklet what they were doing, who they were with, their mood and other aspects of daily activity. This unique pairing of research tools provided data that were more reliable than surveys which rely on a person's recall.
Among the findings: