Table 3.

Future Implementation Considerations

1. Lifestyle assessment and interventions are foundational to mental health care and may form a starting point for treatment (sequential approach) and/or accompany psychological, pharmaceutical, or procedural interventions (adjunctive approach) to improve mental and physical health outcomes and mitigate adverse outcomes.

2. Combining multiple lifestyle-based approaches (e.g., dietary and exercise interventions) may enhance treatment response. However, personalized considerations based on individual (e.g., motivation, acuity) and clinical (e.g., capacity, expertise) circumstances are required.

3. Assessment of lifestyle factors (using either formal tools or clinical interview) should be conducted for all people with MDD, both before and after intervention, as a means of assessing current lifestyle status and measuring progress in lifestyle changes and quality of care.

4. Formal assessment and consideration of social needs (e.g., housing, utilities, food, childcare) should be conducted to guide the provision of lifestyle-based approaches.

5. A person-centered, individualized approach, based on need and preference, incorporating behavior change techniques and applying a biopsychosocial model, may aid the delivery and maintenance of lifestyle-based mental health care for people with MDD.

6. Assessment and intervention plans informed by a culturally safe, culturally aware, and responsive approach may be beneficial to outcomes and improve access to high-quality lifestyle-based mental health care.

7. Including peer support workers, family, friends, and carers may aid the uptake and maintenance of lifestyle-based mental health care for people with MDD.

8. Self-management supported by digital delivery is a potentially feasible, low-cost paradigm for translation of lifestyle-based approaches into health systems worldwide

9. If available, lifestyle interventions that involve relevant allied health professionals (e.g., exercise physiologists, dieticians) may be more beneficial for improving mental health than those that do not.

10. Substance use should be assessed and, where available, existing alcohol and other drug guidelines should be employed to appropriately support cessation or minimization using established therapeutic approaches.