Abstract:The Exercise is Medicine Canada (EIMC) initiative promotes physical activity counselling and exercise prescription within health care. The purpose of this study was to evaluate perceptions and practices around physical activity counselling and exercise prescription in health care professionals before and after EIMC training. Prior to and directly following EIMC workshops, 209 participants (physicians (n = 113); allied health professionals (AHPs) (n = 54), including primarily nurses (n = 36) and others; and exercise professionals (EPs) (n = 23), including kinesiologists (n = 16), physiotherapists (n = 5), and personal trainers (n = 2)) from 7 provinces completed self-reflection questionnaires. Compared with AHPs, physicians saw more patients (78% > 15 patients/day vs 93% < 15 patients/day; p < 0.001) and reported lower frequencies of exercise counselling during routine client encounters (48% vs 72% in most sessions; p < 0.001). EPs had higher confidence providing physical activity information (92 ± 11%) compared with both physicians (52 ± 25%; p < 0.001) and AHPs (56 ± 24%; p < 0.001). Physicians indicated that they experienced greater difficulty including physical activity and exercise counselling into sessions (2.74 ± 0.71, out of 5) compared with AHPs (2.17 ± 0.94; p = 0.001) and EPs (1.43 ± 0.66; p < 0.001). Physicians rated the most impactful barriers to exercise prescription as lack of patient interest (2.77 ± 0.85 out of 4), resources (2.65 ± 0.82 out of 4), and time (2.62 ± 0.71 out of 4). The majority of physicians (85%) provided a written prescription for exercise in <10% of appointments. Following the workshop, 87% of physician attendees proposed at least one change to practice; 47% intended on changing their practice by prescribing exercise routinely, and 33% planned on increasing physical activity and exercise counselling, measured through open-ended responses.Key words: Exercise is Medicine, physical inactivity, exercise prescription, primary care.

Exercise is Medicine Canada (EIMC) is an initiative that promotes physical activity (PA) counselling and exercise prescription within health care. The purpose of this study was to compare physicians' perceptions and practices around PA counselling and exercise prescription following EIMC training. Physicians (n = 46) from 7 different provinces completed questionnaires initially and 3 months following an EIMC workshop. Three months after intervention, physicians reported greater confidence compared with baseline for providing physical activity and exercise (PAE) information to patients (79% vs 55%; p < 0.001), assessing patients' PAE (69% vs 44%, p = 0.005), answering patients' PAE questions (78% vs 54%, p < 0.001), providing PAE advice (71% vs 43%, p < 0.001), and identifying which patients would benefit from referral to qualified exercise professionals (77% vs 52%, p = 0.002). At follow-up, physicians reported PA prescription barriers as less impactful (out of 4; all p < 0.05), including perceived patients' lack of interest (2.75 to 2.25), lack of available resources (2.59 to 2.00), and lack of time (2.41 to 2.14). The proportion of physicians providing written exercise prescriptions increased from 20% to 74%. This study suggests that the completion of a 1-day EIMC workshop increases physicians' confidence, knowledge, and counselling behaviours of physicians in prescribing PAE.

The findings extend previous research highlighting the benefits of social identity on teammate behavior and team performance and demonstrate how social identity may contribute to PYD through sport.

Background: Physicians (MDs) report difficulty including physical activity (PA) and exercise (PAE) as part of routine care. MDs who report previous educational training in PAE may prescribe exercise more frequently. We evaluated the effects of previous training on perceptions and practices of PA counselling and exercise prescriptions among MDs in Nova Scotia.Methods: MDs (n=174) across Nova Scotia completed an online self-reflection survey regarding their current PAE practices. MDs who reported previous training (n=41) were compared to those who reported no training (n=133). Results: Trained-MDs were 22% more confident performing PA counselling than untrained-MDs (p<0.005). In patient appointments, trained-MDs included PAE more often (51% vs 39%; p=0.03) but trained-MDs and untrained-MDs had similar rates of exercise prescriptions (12%; p>0.05). The most impactful barriers (on a scale of 1 to 4) were lack of time (2.5) and perceived patient interest (2.4), which were unaffected by previous training (p>0.05).Conclusion: Previous training was associated with a higher confidence to include PAE discussions with patients by MDs in Nova Scotia, but had minimal influence on their many barriers that prevent exercise prescription. Although some training supports MDs inclusion of PAE into their practice, there is a need for greater, more intensive educational training to assist MDs in prescribing exercise.

Abstract:The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of 2 newly developed physical activity questionnaires: the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP) Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Questionnaire (PASB-Q) and a newly modified Leisure-Time Physical Activity Questionnaire (mLTPA-Q). These questionnaires were compared with objective measurements of physical activity and fitness (accelerometry and physiological assessments) in 35 adults, before and after a week of daily living activity. Objectively measured moderate-to vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity (MVPA) was moderately correlated with the PASB-Q's physical activity vital sign (PAVS) (r = 0.50, p = 0.004) and the mLTPA-Q (r = 0.56, p = 0.001). Bland−Altman plots suggest minimal bias from self-reported to objective measures of MVPA. The ability of PAVS to accurately distinguish who does and does not achieve Canadian physical activity guidelines was 83% and 60%, respectively, compared with 82% and 73% of the mLTPA-Q. Self-reported sedentary time was greatly underestimated in the PASB-Q compared with the objective measure (6.4 ± 3.5 vs 12.2 ± 1.2 h/day). The results of this study suggest the PASB-Q and mLTPA-Q are valid and reliable measures of adult physical activity and provide reasonable indication of those individuals who meet physical activity guidelines. Future questionnaire development should take into account the underestimation of time spent engaging in sedentary activities.Key words: physical activity, sedentary behaviour, accelerometry, physical activity questionnaires, validity, reliability. Mots-clés : activité physique, comportement sédentaire, accélérométrie, questionnaires sur l'activité physique, validité, fiabilité.