How general practitioners promote 'lifestyle' physical activity

Area of Science:

• General Practice
• Public Health
• Behavioral Medicine

Background:

• Promoting lifestyle physical activity (PA) is crucial for public health.
• General Practitioners (GPs) play a key role in advising patients on PA.
• Understanding how GPs tailor PA promotion to patient readiness is important.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how GPs promote physical activity (PA30 x 5) to patients at different stages of change.
• To identify specific counselling strategies that predict regular PA promotion by GPs.

Main Methods:

• A postal questionnaire was distributed to GPs in a UK health district (68% return rate).
• Data were analyzed using stepwise logistic regression to identify predictors of regular PA promotion.
• Counselling strategies included the six 'A' factors: Ask, Assess, Advise, Assure, Arrange follow-up, and Applaud.

Main Results:

• 47% of GPs reported regularly promoting PA30 x 5 (30 min moderate PA, 5+ days/week).
• Key predictors for regular PA promotion included: arranging follow-ups for pre-contemplators (OR=4.93), referral to exercise schemes for contemplators (OR=2.34), and inquiring about PA with relapsers (OR=2.61).
• GPs promoting PA regularly used 'effortful', 'stage-matched' approaches based on patient behavior.

Conclusions:

• GPs' regular promotion of PA30 x 5 is associated with stage-matched counselling strategies.
• These findings suggest that in-service training focusing on these three key strategies could enhance GP effectiveness in promoting physical activity.
• Tailoring interventions to patient stages of change is an effective approach for GPs to promote lifestyle physical activity.