LEBANON – A team of researchers from Dartmouth Health and the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth recently received a $3 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, a program of the National Institutes of Health, to investigate how well an evidence-based intervention in community health organizations across the United States can be sustained.

The five-year grant will build on work started in 2001 by Dartmouth researchers to evaluate InSHAPE, a program developed in Keene, NH, to increase the life expectancy of people who have or are at risk of developing severe and persistent mental illness, by providing resources and supports to reduce the risks of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and substance abuse. InSHAPE has since been implemented at multiple locations nationwide.

Adults with serious and disabling mental illness, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression, die about 10-25 years earlier than the rest of the population. This is mostly due to cardiovascular risk factors that can be addressed with behavioral lifestyle changes.

“These interventions have been shown to reduce cardiovascular risk in adults with serious mental illness, even among those taking antipsychotic medications,” said Kelly A. Aschbrenner, PhD, a principal scientist at Dartmouth Health and associate professor of psychiatry at Geisel, who is serving as principal investigator on the study. “But it has been unclear how well interventions are sustained once research projects are completed.”

For their new study, Aschbrenner’s team will leverage previously collected data to study the different elements that predict long-term sustainment of InSHAPE and its health benefits, as well as collect new data. The study team will collaborate with InSHAPE teams nationwide to develop a sustainment guide for future research and practice. While the guide will be based on InSHAPE, it will include key considerations for sustaining evidence-based health promotion programs more broadly in mental health organizations.

“It’s rare to have a chance to contribute to such a long line of research, one that has included several faculty members of the Dartmouth Health’s psychiatry department who have been pioneers in doing this work,” Aschbrenner said. “We’re excited to have the opportunity to carry it forward and to see what this new chapter will bring.”