PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Lindsay Reddeman
AU  - Nicole Bourgeois
AU  - Emily Nicholas Angl
AU  - Mike Heinrich
AU  - Leah Hillier
AU  - Holly Finn
AU  - Beth Bosiak
AU  - Payal Agarwal
AU  - Robin Mawson
AU  - Roni Propp
AU  - Noah M. Ivers
TI  - How should family physicians provide physical activity advice?
DP  - 2019 Sep 01
TA  - Canadian Family Physician
PG  - e411--e419
VI  - 65
IP  - 9
4099  - http://www.cfp.ca/content/65/9/e411.short
4100  - http://www.cfp.ca/content/65/9/e411.full
SO  - Can Fam Physician2019 Sep 01; 65
AB  - Objective To explore patient attitudes toward interacting with family physicians regarding physical activity in order to inform the development of an e-health intervention aimed at helping family physicians support patients in becoming more physically active.Design Qualitative study.Setting Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, Ont.Participants Ten patients recruited from the academic family practice health centre.Methods Semistructured interviews were conducted with patients using maximum variation sampling until thematic saturation was reached. Interviews explored past experiences and preferences for receiving physical activity advice from family physicians, and tools or techniques that might support increasing physical activity. Interviews were audiorecorded, transcribed, and coded independently by members of the research team before undergoing thematic analysis.Main findings Patient interviews revealed 4 overarching themes that offered insight to physical activity discussions. Family physicians might provide more meaningful and useful physical activity advice to patients by providing individualized recommendations focused on proximal (ie, near-term) health and functional goals; recognizing and addressing unique environmental and social factors influencing physical activity levels; balancing candour and sensitivity in advice provision while incorporating a broad definition of physical activity; and recommending tools that incorporate planning, goal-setting, and goal-monitoring features.Conclusion Ultimately, physical activity recommendations from family physicians cannot make a difference if patients do not act on them. This study elicits input from patients to develop preliminary strategies that might help family physicians provide physical activity advice in a more patient-centred fashion. Further research is needed to test interventions that help implement these strategies and to assess their effect.