Promoting physical activity in primary care: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Van der Wardt, Veronika; Di Lorito, Claudio; Viniol, Annika

Abstract

Background: Promoting physical activity is an important part of patient care in primary care and has been investigated in many studies with a wide range of intervention characteristics often including external support. It is unclear, however, if promoting physical activity is effective.

Aim: To investigate the effectiveness of behaviour change interventions to promote physical activity in primary care.

Design and Setting: This is a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate physical activity promotion in a primary care setting.

Method: Embase, Medline, PsycInfo and the Joanna Briggs Institute Database were searched for ‘physical activity’, ‘interview’, ‘motivation’, ‘primary care’ and equivalent words to identify randomized controlled trials with physical activity as outcome at patient level.

Results: The review identified 23 eligible studies. The quality appraisal showed that most studies reported insufficient details regarding randomization, group allocation, blinding and fidelity of intervention delivery. The included studies reported a wide range of interventions with varying numbers of follow-up visits or phone calls. The overall effect size for interventions with a 6 months follow-up interval was 0.04 (95% CI -0.05 to 0.13), for interventions with a 12 months follow-up interval 0.2 (95% CI 0.04 to 0.36). Only one intervention based on three motivational interviewing sessions achieved a moderate effect.

Conclusion: Counselling to promote physical activity in primary care has a limited effect on patients’ behaviour and might not be, on its own, enough to change physical activity behaviour.

Citation

Van der Wardt, V., Di Lorito, C., & Viniol, A. (2021). Promoting physical activity in primary care: a systematic review and meta-analysis. British Journal of General Practice, 71(706), e399-e405. https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp.2020.0817

• Journal Article Type: Review
• Acceptance Date: Nov 23, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Feb 3, 2021
• Publication Date: Apr 29, 2021
• Deposit Date: Nov 25, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 4, 2022
• Journal: British Journal of General Practice
• Print ISSN: 0960-1643
• Electronic ISSN: 1478-5242
• Publisher: Royal College of General Practitioners
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 71
• Issue: 706
• Pages: e399-e405
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp.2020.0817
• Keywords: Family Practice
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5069167