Primary care knowledge and beliefs about physical activity and health: a survey of primary healthcare team members

Patrick C Wheeler; Ralph Mitchell; Melvinder Ghaly; Kim Buxton

doi:10.3399/bjgpopen17X100809

Article Figures & Data

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Table 1. Demographics, health behaviours and knowledge for responders, by professional group

Demographic	All (n = 302)	GP (n = 166)	GP registrar(n = 65)	Nurse (n = 71)
Age, years
Mean (SD)	44.8 (10.6)	48.5 (9.0)	32.0 (4.7)	48.1 (8.8)
Sex, %
Male	38	54	35	1.4
Female	62	46	65	99
Ethnic origin,%
White	63	60	37	96
Mixed/multiple ethnic groups	0.3	0.6	–	–
Asian/Asian British	30	36	45	1.4
Black/African/Caribbean/black British	3.7	1.9	9.2	2.8
Other ethnic group	3.0	1.9	9.2	–
Which of the following best describes your own smoking habits? %
I currently smoke 40 or more cigarettes per day	–	–	–	–
I currently smoke between 20 and 40 cigarettes per day	–	–	–	–
I currently smoke under 20 cigarettes per day	1.3	–	1.5	4.2
I used to smoke regularly, but have now given up	11	10	5	21
I have never smoked, or never smoked regularly	87	90	94	73
Concerning your own weight, do you consider yourself to be? %
Very underweight	0.3	–	1.6	–
Slightly underweight	2.7	4.3	1.6	–
About right	49	51	58	37
Slightly overweight	42	40	34	54
Very overweight	6.4	5.5	4.7	9.9
In the past week, on how many days have you done a total of 30 minutes or more of physical activity, which was enough to raise your breathing rate? %
Mean (SD)	2.41 (1.86)	2.36 (1.85)	2.17 (1.72)	2.75 (2.00)
How many minutes per week of moderate intensity physical activity should an adult undertake to meet the current UK physical activity guidelines? (Correct answer is 150 mins moderate activity/week)
Mean (SD) [range]	122 (81)	128 (96) [0–600]	125 (53) [0–350]	104 (58) [4–250]
How many days a week should an adult undertake physical activity to improve their muscle strength to meet the current UK physical activity guidelines? (Correct answer is 2 days each week)
Mean (SD) [range]	4.13 (1.31)	4.1 (1.4) [0–7]	4.1 (1.1) [2–7]	4.3 (1.3) [2–7]

Participants were asked to declare their occupation, a total of 166 GPs (partner/salaried or locum), 65 GP registrars and 71 nurses responded. In addition, responses were obtained from three medical students, and one retired GP. Eight responders specified another occupation (including several foundation-level doctors, and a prescribing advisor), and two responders did not give a response for their occupation. Subsequent analysis was performed for the GP, GP registrar, and nurse groups, with the remainder of the responders (n = 14) excluded from analysis, giving a sub-group analysis total of 302 responders.

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Table 2. Perceived barriers in limiting professionals from discussing physical activity with their patients

	All (n = 285), %	GP (n = 156), %	GP registrar (n = 63), %	Nurse (n = 66), %
Lack of time	91.2	91.0	92.1	90.9
Lack of resources	36.8	41.7	38.1	24.2
Patients’ current condition	27.4	26.9	22.2	33.3
Patients are unlikely to follow the advice	24.6	30.1	28.6	7.6
Lack of knowledge	18.9	12.8	39.7	13.6
Lack of incentives	11.2	16.0	7.9	3.0
Not my professional role	2.1	3.8	0	0

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Table 3. Self-reported professional behaviours

	All	GP	GP registrar	Nurse
	(n = 293),%	(n = 159),%	(n = 64),%	(n = 70),%
How often do you … ‘Ask patients about their smoking habits?’
Often	92	96	81	93
Sometimes	7.8	4.4	17	7.1
Rarely	0.3	0.0	1.6	0.0
Never	0	0	0	0
How often do you … ‘Ask patients about their level of alcohol consumption?’
Often	77	77	73	81
Sometimes	22	23	25	17
Rarely	0.7	0.0	1.6	1.4
Never	0	0	0	0
How often do you … ‘Check a patient's weight?’
Often	57	60	25	91
Sometimes	35	36	59	8.7
Rarely	5.8	4.4	16	0.0
Never	0	0	0	0
How often do you … ‘Check a patient's blood pressure?’
Often	94	93	92	97
Sometimes	5.8	6.3	7.9	2.9
Rarely	0.3	0.6	0.0	0.0
Never	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
How often do you … ‘Ask patients about the levels of regular physical activity they are undertaking?’
Often	36	34	13	61
Sometimes	54	56	73	33
Rarely	10	10	14	5.7
Never	0	0	0	0
How often do you … ‘Screen patients using a specific physical activity tool to quantify their activity levels?’
Often	11	6.3	1.6	31
Sometimes	29	30	13	41
Rarely	30	35	33	16
Never	30	28	53	11
How often do you … ‘Signpost inactive patients to local physical activity opportunities?’
Often	21	18	6.3	40
Sometimes	54	63	48	39
Rarely	20	16	36	13
Never	5	2.5	9.4	8.6
How often do you … ‘Provide counselling to motivate inactive patients?’
Often	23	24	6.3	34
Sometimes	41	47	33	33
Rarely	25	19	44	20
Never	12	9.0	17	13
How often do you … ‘Refer inactive patients to exercise programmes?’
Often	16	14	6	27
Sometimes	54	60	53	41
Rarely	25	23	31	24
Never	5.5	3.1	9.4	7.1

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Table 4. ‘Which of the following tools do you use to screen patients’ physical activity?’

Questionnaire	Often, %	Sometimes, %	Never, %	I do not know what this is, %
General Practice Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPPAQ)	21	36	14	29
International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)	1.4	1.4	18	79
LEAP^a	1.4	4.7	19	75
PGActiveQ^a	0.5	2.3	20	78
Single item question	3.2	3.2	17	76
Vital sign	10	6.0	19	65

↵ ^aFictitious questionnaire, used to identify positive responses.

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Table 5. Displaying the proportion agreeing/disagreeing with statements about physical activity and health outcomes

Statement	Strongly agree, %	Agree, %	Neither agree nor disagree, %	Disagree, %	Strongly disagree, %
Physical activity can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease	65	33	2	0	0
Physical activity can be an effective treatment for depression	62	37	1	0	0
Physical activity can help treat type 2 diabetes	61	37	1	0	0
Adults should minimise the amount of time being sedentary for extended periods of time	57	39	2	2	0
Physical activity can improve mobility and balance	55	43	1	1	0
Physical activity can both prevent and treat lower back pain	38	57	3	0	1
Adults who are physically active have a lower risk of developing certain types of cancer than inactive adults	37	50	11	0	2
Physical activity can significantly reduce hospital admissions for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease	28	58	11	1	3
Physical activity can prevent the development of osteoarthritis	25	51	16	1	8
Physical activity can reduce the risk of the development of glaucoma^a	4	9	60	6	22
The only health benefit physical activity has is in in assisting weight loss^a	4	2	3	55	37
Physical activity can treat haemophilia^a	2	2	46	16	33