Background In Sweden, 56% of the population aged 16–84 have an unhealthy lifestyle. The primary health care (PHC) has been instructed to offer citizens health promotion and disease‐preventive actions. Very few studies have been conducted about how individuals experience interventions from the PHC intended to help them to change lifestyle. Aim The purpose of the study was to explore patients’ experiences of visiting a nurse‐led lifestyle clinic. Methods Patients (n = 137), who participated in a screening test at a lifestyle clinic, were invited to focus group interviews. Of these, 14 patients agreed to participate. The data were analysed using content analysis. Results The patients felt that the visit to the lifestyle clinic gave insight into their habits and diminished their fear of not being healthy. Primary health care was seen as a safe provider in this matter. Disappointment was occasioned by the unfulfilled expectations of blood tests, lack of follow‐up visit and inconsistencies of approach during the visit to the lifestyle clinic. Personal chemistry was perceived to be crucial for how the encounter with the public health nurse evolved. Conclusion Lifestyle clinics can give patients opportunity to change lifestyle and also to confirm the good habits. It may also be important to have follow‐up visits to give the patients’ support when changing lifestyle. Nurses counselling patients about lifestyle changes need to have recurrent training in Motivational Interviewing.

BackgroundIn the Swedish population aged between 50 and 64 years only 7.1% reach the recommended level of physical activity. Physical activity on prescription (PAP) has been used in Sweden since the beginning of the twenty-first century with moderate adherence of approximately 50%. Mindfulness seems to affect motivation to and satisfaction with physical activity. The aim is to test the feasibility of a study in routine care; i.e. to test if mindfulness can improve adherence to PAP, measured by changes in physical activity.Methods/designWe will include 90 sedentary individuals, aged 40–65 years, from primary health care centres in Sweden. Individuals will be randomised to only PAP, mindfulness and PAP or mindfulness only. The PAP group will be based on patients’ preferences. The mindfulness groups will meet once a week for 8 weeks and practise 20 min of individual training per day. There will not be any motivational interview or physical activity on prescription in the group assigned to only mindfulness.The participants will complete the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, the Insomnia Severity Index and also answer questions concerning their lifestyle. Physical activity will be measured by ACTi Graph GT1X activity monitor at baseline and after 3 and 6 months. Patients with a severe psychological disease, unstable angina or a recent myocardial infarction will be excluded. The main outcome will be adherence to PAP in an ordinary primary health care setting. In this pilot study, we will also evaluate measures such as the recruitment rate, number of dropouts and adherence to mindfulness practice.DiscussionThis study is the first to explore the effect of mindfulness on adherence to PAP and test the feasibility of the study design.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02869854. Registered on 26 August 2016.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13063-018-2932-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is one of the most common types of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and is associated with increased mortality-risk. Poor-self rated health (SHR) has been associated with elevated inflammatory markers and CVDs. However, little is known about as a predictor of incident VTE. To examine the association between self-rated health, lifestyle and incident VTE among middle-aged women. 6917 women aged 50-64 years, followed for 20 years in the Women's Health In the Lund Area (WHILA) study. After exclusion of those who medicated with anticoagulants, were living in nursing homes or suffered from cancer, stroke, VTE or CHD before baseline, a cohort of 5626 women remained. Cox regression was used to analyse the relationship between self-rated health and time to VTE, censored for any of the previous mentioned diseases during follow-up. Data were collected by questionnaires, physical examinations and Swedish registers. In total, 220 women were affected by VTE corresponding to an incidence rate of 3.9 per 1000 person-years. Adjustment for self-rated health did not significantly predict incident VTE, and neither did any of the lifestyle-related habits (e.g. physical activity and dietary habits including alcohol consumption), besides smoking. This study supports previous results with varicose veins and waist circumference as strong predictors of VTE. Poor self-rated health does not seem to be a valid predictor of VTE. Among lifestyle-related parameters, smoking was significantly associated with risk of VTE. We could also confirm the effect of the other already known risk factors.