ArticleBMC family practice2010
Discussing patient's lifestyle choices in the consulting room: analysis of GP-patient consultations between 1975 and 2008.
Article in BMC family practice, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Physical Activity Promotion: A Systematic Review of The Perceptions of Healthcare Professionals.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Gender differences in response to an opportunistic brief intervention for obesity in primary care: Data from the BWeL trial.Clinical obesity · 2021Trial
- Brief interventions for obesity when patients are asked to pay for weight loss treatment: an observational study in primary care with an embedded randomised trial.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2020Trial
- A Randomized Controlled Trial of IVR-Based Alcohol Brief Intervention to Promote Patient-Provider Communication in Primary Care.Journal of general internal medicine · 2016Trial
- U.S. and Swedish primary care physicians' views on promoting healthy lifestyles: a qualitative study.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- Healthcare Professionals' Perceptions of Lifestyle Medicine in Specialized Care: A Survey-Based Study in a Dutch Hospital.American journal of lifestyle medicine · 2025Article
- How GPs approach physical activity discussion in routine care: a qualitative study of video-recorded consultations.BJGP open · 2025Article
- Discussing Weight in Real World GP Consultations: A Video Recording Analysis Study.Obesity science & practice · 2025Article
- 'In the end, I'm the one who has to do the job': Participant experience of a lifestyle intervention for patients with hypertension.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2023Article
- GP delivered brief weight loss advice: associations between in-consultation behaviour change techniques and patient weight loss in recorded primary care discussions.Health psychology and behavioral medicine · 2023Article
- Facilitators of and Barriers to Lifestyle Support and eHealth Solutions: Interview Study Among Health Care Professionals Working in Cardiac Care.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Article
- Identification of Important Factors Affecting Use of Digital Individualised Coaching and Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes in General Practice: A Qualitative Feasibility Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- What Makes Opportunistic GP Interventions Effective? An Analysis of Behavior Change Techniques Used in 237 GP-Delivered Brief Interventions for Weight Loss.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2021Observational
- Article
- Conversations about alcohol in healthcare - cross-sectional surveys in the Netherlands and Sweden.BMC public health · 2020Article
- Development and usability testing of a very brief intervention for personalised cancer risk assessment to promote behaviour change in primary care using normalisation process theory.Primary health care research & development · 2020Article
- Determinants of lifestyle counseling and current practices: A cross-sectional study among Dutch general practitioners.PloS one · 2020Article
- Predictors of Counselling Related to a Healthy Lifestyle Carried Out by a General Practitioner.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Article
- Nutrition and physical activity counselling by general practitioners in Lithuania, 2000-2014.BMC family practice · 2019Article
- Discussing lifestyle behaviors: perspectives and experiences of general practitioners.Health psychology and behavioral medicine · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe increasing prevalence of chronic diseases and the growing understanding that lifestyle behaviour plays an essential role in improving overall health suggest a need for increased attention to lifestyle choices in the consulting room.This study aims to examine whether or not healthy and unhealthy lifestyle choices of patients are currently being discussed more often in primary care consultations than in former decades. Furthermore, we are interested in GPs' approach to lifestyle behaviour during consultations. Lastly, we examine whether lifestyle behaviour is discussed more with certain patients during consultations, depending on gender, age and educational background.
methodWe analysed video-recordings of medical consultations, collected between 1975 and 2008 in Dutch GP practices. Data were analysed using logistic regression.
resultsThis study shows that discussion of smoking behaviour and physical activity has increased somewhat over time. A change in discussion of nutrition and alcohol is, however, less clear. Overall, alcohol use is the least discussed and physical activity the most discussed during consultations. GPs mainly refer to lifestyle when it is relevant to the patient's complaints (symptom approach). GPs' approach to lifestyle behaviour did not change over time. In general, lifestyle behaviour is discussed more with older, male patients (except for nutrition). GPs talk about lifestyle behaviour with patients from different educational backgrounds equally (except for physical activity).
conclusionIn recent years there is greater awareness of a healthy lifestyle, which is reflected to a limited extent in this study. Still, lifestyle behaviour is discussed in only a minority of consultations. GPs do not refer to lifestyle behaviour as a routine procedure, i.e. do not include it in primary prevention. This highlights the importance of the introduction of prevention consultations, where GPs can discuss lifestyle issues with patients who do not (yet) have risk symptoms.
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