Scoping review and international multi-centre cohort study investigating teaching, knowledge and beliefs regarding physical activity as a health intervention among medical students: a comparison between Singapore and the UK

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Physical inactivity is a global challenge and physicians must promote physical activity (PA) among their patients. Nevertheless, PA counselling remains inadequate due to limitations in knowledge, education and information availability. This study evaluates the understanding of PA as a health intervention and knowledge of World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines among Singapore and United Kingdom (UK) medical students, the next generation of physicians. METHODSStudents from Singapore (Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine) and the UK (Universities of Cardiff, Leicester, Oxford and Birmingham) were invited to complete a 12-item online survey. Questions assessed knowledge of WHO guidelines, understanding of PA in health and illness, personal PA levels and exposure to PA counselling in clinical practice. RESULTSAmong 633 Singapore and UK students who completed the questionnaire, 94.8% believed that PA was important in preventing disease, but only 70.9% recognised its importance in treating disease. The majority (85.3%) indicated participation in PA and exercise. General understanding of WHO guidelines for adults was poor, with less than half (46.8%) correctly answering this section. 3 (0.5%) students identified that PA in adults could be accumulated in multiple ways. Understanding of PA in health and familiarity with guidelines did not differ significantly between Singapore and UK students. CONCLUSION There is considerable room for improvement in the knowledge of WHO guidelines and the role of PA in health. Education should begin during the undergraduate phase so that future doctors are better equipped to counsel their patients.Scoping review and international multi-centre cohort study investigating teaching, knowledge and beliefs regarding physical activity as a health intervention among medical students: a comparison between Singapore and the UK

Physical Activity Promotes Well Being: Medical Students' Engagement and Perspective. A Cross-Sectional Study Scoped Through Innovation and Technology

“…The acceptable degree of understanding of PA related health bene ts, and preventive roles, demonstrated in this study, re ects an adequacy of background knowledge resembling that of recent ndings from a scoping review on medical schools from Singapore and he UK [24].…”

“…In the realm of medical education, participation of undergraduate medical students in physical activity was extensively studied internationally [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] Yet scientists and medical educators are still assessing various aspects pertaining to their involvement, understanding and active promotion, aiming towards improvement at all domains [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]. This sheds light on the additional importance related to future doctor's role in physical activity directed healthcare promotion, which remains suboptimal [43][44][45].…”

COVID‐19 lockdown: Physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep in Italian medicine students

“…This is mainly due to lack of dedicated time and qualified staff, and an overall perception of such education as low priority (Almohaya et al, 2013; Mindell et al, 2011; Strong et al, 2017). As a result, students consider their preparation as inadequate and perceive they have limited ability to deliver health behaviour change interventions (Chew et al, 2019). Improvements could be achieved by identifying competencies and goals and acting on the aforementioned barriers to their implementation (Mindell et al, 2011; Strong et al, 2017).…”

“…Education on physical activity and sleep should be integrated across all components of the medical education programme, from basic physiology to clinical aspects and impact on disease and patient management (Strong et al, 2017). This would have an impact on medicine students and doctors’ health and improve their role as facilitators and providers of interventions on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep (Chew et al, 2019; Strong et al, 2017).…”

“…On one side, students need to improve or maintain their personal health. On the other side, students who know and adopt healthy lifestyles will be, as future physicians, better promoters of healthy behaviours for their patients (Almohaya et al, 2013; Chew, Ho, Kee, & Sirisena, 2019; Frank, Elon, & Hertzberg, 2007; Strong et al, 2017). It is unclear how lockdown affected physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep among medicine students and how to intervene to revert possible detrimental effects.…”