ArticleBritish journal of sports medicine1998
Barriers to physical activity promotion by general practitioners and practice nurses.
Article in British journal of sports medicine, 1998. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Factors influencing primary health care professionals' physical activity promotion behaviors: a systematic review.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2015Pooled it
- Barriers and Facilitators Perceived by Primary Healthcare Professionals About Physical Activity Prescription, a Meta-Ethnography.Public health nursing (Boston, Mass.)Pooled it
- From a research trial to routine practice: stakeholders' perceptions and experiences of referrals to the National Exercise Referral Scheme (NERS) in Wales.BMC health services research · 2021Trial
- Efficacy of GP referral of insufficiently active patients for expert physical activity counseling: protocol for a pragmatic randomized trial (The NewCOACH trial).BMC family practice · 2014Trial
- Increasing physical activity in Belgian type 2 diabetes patients: a three-arm randomized controlled trial.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2011Trial
- A pragmatic randomised controlled trial of the Welsh National Exercise Referral Scheme: protocol for trial and integrated economic and process evaluation.BMC public health · 2010Trial
- Effect of a tailored physical activity intervention delivered in general practice settings: results of a randomized controlled trial.American journal of public health · 2005Trial
- Barriers to Physical Activity During Pregnancy and Postpartum-A Narrative Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Article
- Medical conduct and knowledge about physical activity counseling in the largest hospital complex in Latin America.Clinics (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · 2025Observational
- Analysis of the influencing factors of the scientific fitness literacy of nurses in the context of exercise and medicine integration.BMC medical education · 2024Article
- Promoting physical activity to patients: a scoping review of the perceptions of doctors in the United Kingdom.Systematic reviews · 2023Article
- Use of the behaviour change wheel to improve everyday person-centred conversations on physical activity across healthcare.BMC public health · 2022Review
- What do healthcare professionals want from a resource to support person-centred conversations on physical activity? A mixed-methods, user-centric approach to developing educational resources.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2022Article
- Connecting primary care patients to community-based physical activity: a qualitative study of health professional and patient views.BJGP open · 2020Article
- Physical activity guidelines and promotion: An online survey of United Kingdom's prosthetic rehabilitation healthcare professionals.Prosthetics and orthotics international · 2020Article
- Primary care providers' physical activity counseling and referral practices and barriers for cardiovascular disease prevention.Preventive medicine · 2018Article
- Article
- Impact of Electronic Feedback and Peer Comparisons on Residents' Physical Activity Level.Journal of graduate medical education · 2017Article
- An education programme influencing health professionals to recommend exercise to their type 2 diabetes patients - understanding the processes: a case study from Oxfordshire, UK.BMC health services research · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo examine the promotion of physical activity by general practitioners (GPs) and practice nurses (PNs).
methodsA questionnaire that examined the types of barriers and the levels of their influence as well as stage of change for activity promotion and for personal behaviour was mailed to 846 subjects.
resultsThe return rate exceeded 70% in each group with a high proportion (69%) of GPs and PNs reporting that they regularly promote physical activity with their patients. GPs were less likely to regularly promote physical activity with their patients if they indicated lack of time as a barrier (odds ratio (OR) = 0.73, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.58 to 0.93) or lack of incentives (OR = 0.74, 95% CI 0.59 to 0.94), and more likely to promote exercise if they themselves were regular exercisers (OR = 3.19, 95% CI 1.96 to 5.18). However, for PNs longer consultation times (by 1.5 to 2 minutes) had a higher likelihood of producing regular promotion of activity (OR = 1.61, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.62). For PNs personal physical activity stage was the strongest significant predictor of promotion level, but with a stronger effect (OR = 4.77, 95% CI 1.48 to 15.35) than in the GPs.
conclusionThe main finding is that GPs in the action or maintenance stage of changing their own physical activity are three times more likely to regularly promote the same behaviour in their patients than those in the other stages; for PNs the same difference quadruples the likelihood of them promoting physical activity. Professional readiness to change is influenced by known system barriers in GPs, and not in PNs, but is more strongly predicted by personal physical activity behaviour in both groups.
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Registered trials
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