Identifying Key Physical Activity Categories and Topics to Include in Health Professional Training Programs

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Physical Activity Promotion
• Curriculum Development

Background:

• Healthcare professionals play a vital role in promoting physical activity (PA).
• Current health professional training programs often lack standardized PA content and guidance.
• There is a need to define essential PA components for health professional education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish expert consensus on crucial PA categories and topics for health professional training curricula.
• To guide the development of standardized PA educational content for diverse health professions.

Main Methods:

• A modified three-round e-Delphi process involving 73 experts from seven health professions.
• Experts ranked and scored PA categories and specific topics based on importance.
• Consensus building through iterative feedback and scoring rounds.

Main Results:

• All PA categories were deemed important by experts, with "Health Behavior Change" ranked highest.
• Key PA topics were identified and ranked within categories like "Cellular and Systemic Implications of Exercise" and "Clinical Exercise Physiology."
• Consensus on core PA categories was achieved after two rounds of the Delphi process.

Conclusions:

• The study identified foundational PA categories and topics essential for health professional training.
• These findings provide a basis for developing and implementing PA education across various health disciplines.
• Integrating PA education can enhance healthcare professionals' capacity to promote physical activity.