Counselling increases physical activity behaviour nine weeks after rehabilitation

Abstract

Background: For people with disabilities, a physically active lifestyle can reduce the risk of secondary health problems and improve overall functioning. Objectives: To determine the effects of the sport stimulation programme ''rehabilitation and sports'' (R&S) and R&S combined with the daily physical activity promotion programme ''active after rehabilitation'' (AaR) on sport participation and daily physical activity behaviour nine weeks after inpatient or outpatient rehabilitation. Methods: Subjects in four intervention rehabilitation centres were randomised to a group receiving R&S only (n = 315) or a group receiving R&S and AaR (n = 284). Subjects in six control rehabilitation centres (n = 603) received the usual care. Most common diagnoses were stroke, neurological disorders, and back disorders. Two sport and two daily physical activity outcomes were assessed with questionnaires seven weeks before and nine weeks after the end of rehabilitation. Data were analysed by intention to treat and on treatment multilevel analyses, comparing both intervention groups with the control group. Results: The R&S group showed no significant change. Intention to treat analyses of the R&S+AaR group showed significant improvements in one sport (p = 0.02) and one physical activity outcome (p = 0.03). On treatment analyses in the R&S+AaR group showed significant improvements in both sport outcomes (p,0.01 and p = 0.02) and one physical activity outcome (p,0.01). Conclusions: Only the combination of R&S and AaR had increased sports participation and daily physical activity behaviour nine weeks after the end of inpatient or outpatient rehabilitation.

The development of an evidence-based physical self-management rehabilitation programme for cancer survivors

“…Sports may provide training in such complex tasks. Sports are often included in rehabilitation programmes to facilitate their integration into daily life, as it is more difficult to become physically active when sedentary [113]. Enjoyment of sport has also been reported to be a mediator for the adoption of an active lifestyle [93].…”

Underlying mechanisms of improving physical activity behavior after rehabilitation

“…The second personalized, tailored counseling program was called "Active after Rehabilitation" (AaR) and promoted physical activity behavior in general. The results of this intervention study showed that the combination of the R&S and AaR program successfully improved physical activity behavior nine weeks and one year after rehabilitation (van der Ploeg et al, 2006;van der Ploeg et al, 2007).…”

“…Subjects in the intervention centers were randomly assigned to the R&S program only, or to both the R&S and AaR intervention programs. However, since the R&S intervention alone was shown to be ineffective (van der Ploeg et al, 2006;van der Ploeg et al, 2007), the current analysis contains only data from the subjects that have received both the R&S and AaR intervention programs and from the control group.…”

“…The program focused on identifying physical activity possibilities, integrating facilitators, overcoming barriers, and using strategies to become more physically active, such as goal setting and rewarding. Both interventions are described in more detail elsewhere (van der Ploeg et al, 2006).…”

“…This approach is based on a technique to define confounders in regression analysis, but instead of looking for confounders, theoretical determinants of the intervention effect were tested. The approach worked with a basic model that was used in the earlier analysis that assessed the effect of the combination of both interventions on the PASIPD score (van der Ploeg et al, 2006;van der Ploeg et al, 2007).…”