Associated Sociodemographic and Facility Patterning of Uptake, Attendance, and Session Count Within a Scottish Exercise Referral Scheme

Abstract

Background: Exercise referral schemes (ERS) aim to tackle noncommunicable disease via increasing levels of physical activity. Health benefits are reliant on uptake and attending ERS sessions. Hence, it is important to understand which characteristics may influence these parameters to target interventions to improve uptake and attendance to those who need it most. Method: Secondary analysis of one ERS database was conducted to (1) profile participants’ nonuptake of exercise referral; (2) describe any differences between nonattenders and attenders; and (3) report session count of attenders, exploring any relationship between attender demographics and session count. Results: The study showed that (1) sociodemographic profile of nonattenders was very similar to that of those who attended; (2) there was a high, early withdrawal rate of attenders wherein 68% exited the scheme at 5 exercise sessions or less; and (3) session count did not appear to differ by demographic characteristics. Conclusions: Nonattendance and session count did not appear to differ by demographic characteristics. Attendance at ERS was low. Nonuptake and reduced attendance may limit any associated health benefits that may be achieved from ERS. Therefore, it is important to identify additional factors that may influence participants’ choice to uptake and attend ERS.

Exercise referral scheme participant characteristics, referral mode and completion status

“…As in the study by Hanson et al (2021), lower socioeconomic deprivation positively predicted completion. This contrasts with recent evaluations to report no association between socioeconomic deprivation and ERS completion (Shore et al, 2021), or high ERS engagement among the most socioeconomically deprived participants (Bell et al, 2021).…”

“…Associations between ERS completion and gender and socioeconomic deprivation status are more equivocal (Hanson et al, 2021;Pavey et al, 2012). Women are less likely to complete some ERSs (Kelly et al, 2017;Moore et al, 2013), but not others (Hanson et al, 2021;Shore et al, 2021), while lower socioeconomic deprivation status is similarly positively associated with ERS completion in some schemes (Hanson et al, 2021), but not others (Shore et al, 2021). Despite some exceptions (Gidlow et al, 2007;Hanson et al, 2013;Kelly et al, 2017), mode of ERS entry is a referral characteristic that has received comparably less attention.…”

Exercise Management for Referred Medical Conditions

“…Such data might be used locally within a scheme but also as part of the national ERS database. A study of uptake, attendance and session count in an ERS in Scotland reported that in this scheme there were no sociodemographic differences between attenders and non-attenders, yet there was a 68% exit rate at 5 sessions or less (Shore et al, 2021b). This is significant since health benefits can only be attained by adhering to the exercise prescription.…”

Exercise Referral Instructors’ Perspectives on Supporting and Motivating Participants to Uptake, Attend and Adhere to Exercise Prescription: A Qualitative Study

“…However, there is a paucity of evidence surrounding experiences of exercise referral instructors and how they engage, support and motivate participants to uptake and attend the scheme and adhere to the prescription. Historically, ERSs have a low uptake rate, and for those who choose to start ERS, there is a high dropout rate or low session count, i.e., attendance is poor [ 7 , 19 ]. For example, uptake can range anywhere between 35 and 85%, while attendance can range from 12 to 86% [ 4 ].…”