PEPAF: Evaluation of Family Physician's Effectiveness for Physical Activity Promotion

Summary

The potential health gains from active lifestyles are very well-known and it is recommended that all adults dedicate at least 30 minutes to activities of at least moderate intensity at least five days a week. What is still not known is how to help sedentary people follow this recommendation, by means of brief interventions feasible in routine general practice. This multi-center study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a physical activity promotion program (called PEPAF) implemented in 56 general practices of the Spanish public primary health care system. The study will test the capacity of the program to increase the physical activity level, physical fitness and health related quality of life of sedentary people.

Conditions

• Exercise
• Physical Fitness
• Quality of Life

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Experimental Programme for Physical Activity Promotion

General practitioner's (GP) physical activity (PA) assessment and advise using a web-based software that prompted open questions to elicit believes about benefits of PA, graphical information about risks of inactivity and examples of type sentences to provide medical advise. Educational materials summarizing benefits, risks and motivation. Prescription: 15 minutes educational session in which GP negotiated a goal, addressed possible barriers and anticipated solutions using web-based tools for lack of time, community resources, and health problems. Finally, they designed a 3-month PA activity plan that derived in a standardized printed prescription of frequency, duration, intensity and progression of a selected PA or exercise that included a self-monitoring log.

BEHAVIORAL

Control

Control general practitioners assessed physical activity and performed recruitment in a similar way but offered usual care

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Preventive Services and Health Promotion Research Network

  collaborator OTHER

• Castilla-León Health Service

  collaborator OTHER

• Health Service of Andalucia

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• Castilla-La Mancha Health Service

  collaborator OTHER

• Dalt Sant Joan primary care center (Health Service of Islas Baleares)

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Public Health Service of Madrid

  collaborator OTHER

• Public Health Service of Galicia

  collaborator OTHER

• Public Health Service of Cataluña

  collaborator OTHER

• Carlos III Health Institute

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• Basque Health Service

  lead OTHER_GOV

Principal Investigators

• Gonzalo Grandes, Dr. · Primary Care Research Unit of Bizkaia (Basque Health Service)

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

20 Years

Max Age

80 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2003-10-31

Completion

2006-03-31