How General Practitioners promote 'lifestyle' physical activity

We investigated how General Practitioners (GPs) promote lifestyle physical activity (PA) ('accumulate 30 min of at least moderate PA on 5 or more days per week': PA30 x 5) to patients in the different stages of change, using a range of counselling strategies. These strategies included six 'A' factors (Ask, Assess, Advise, Assure, Arrange a follow-up, and Applaud). In a postal questionnaire (68% return rate), 47% of GPs from a single UK health district reported regularly promoting PA30 x 5. A stepwise logistic regression identified three counselling strategies that predicted regularly promoting PA30 x 5: (1) arrange follow-ups for patient pre-contemplators (OR = 4.93), (2) patient contemplators passed to GP exercise referral scheme (OR = 2.34), and (3) asking relapsers about their PA30 x 5 (OR = 2.61). GPs who regularly promote PA30 x 5 base their counselling on patients' pre-existing PA behaviour, using 'effortful', 'stage-matched' approaches. Since these are acceptable to GPs, in-service training may build on using these three factors. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.