Evidence‐based lifestyle medicine interventions to enhance the mental health of law enforcers in Hong Kong: A pilot randomized controlled trial

Law enforcers are stressed, but they may be reluctant to seek psychological support due to the stigmatization of mental illness in the law enforcement culture. Given the relatively stigma‐free lifestyle medicine intervention, a two‐arm pilot randomized controlled trial was conducted in the Hong Kong police force to examine the efficacy of integrated lifestyle medicine practices in enhancing the mental health of law enforcers. A total of 18 participants were randomly assigned to the intervention and waitlist control groups. The intervention group attended a 6‐week lifestyle medicine program consisting of five lifestyle factors. On analyzing the results of the Patient Health Questionnaire using a paired sample t‐test, a statistically significant intervention effect was found. This implies that participants had significantly better general psychological well‐being after the intervention in this pilot study. In conclusion, the present findings provide preliminary support to promote the relatively stigma‐free lifestyle medicine interventions in law enforcement. Nevertheless, further research effort with a larger sample size is warranted to provide empirical support for the efficacy of integrated lifestyle medicine programme.