How GPs approach physical activity discussion in routine care: a qualitative study of video-recorded consultations

Physical activity (PA) engagement is critical for improving health and wellbeing across nearly all patient health concerns. General practitioners (GPs) are well positioned to have discussions about PA owing to the frequency with which they see their patients over long periods of time.

To explore (a) how PA is discussed and (b) the types of PA that are discussed in real-world GP-patient consultations.

A qualitative descriptive study using real-world video-recorded consultations with Melbourne-based GPs.

Secondary analysis of 43 video consultation data from four GPs held with the Digital Library repository at Monash University, Australia. Two researchers reviewed the consultations and analysed each consultation using descriptive content analysis.

From the total consultations (n = 43), 41.9% (n = 18) discussed PA. Five consultations included a structured GP management plan that prompted PA questions for discussion. GPs had a patient-centred approach and discussed a range of different types of PA, which was tailored to the specific health needs of each patient. These included exercise prescription, general advice, aerobic exercise, functional movement, and allied healthcare referrals.

GPs discuss PA with patients in opportunistic or systematic ways using a patient-centred approach. This study could be used as a foundation for establishing teaching resources for GPs, both in training and in professional development. Future studies could explore how PA discussions improve health outcomes over longer periods of time. This will contribute to understanding how, and if, PA is followed-up to further understand the effectiveness of these discussions.