Physical activity on prescription with access to counsellor support implemented in routine care : Healthcare and patient perspectives

Background: The Swedish PAP (physical activity on prescription) programme FaR®, introduced in 2001, has been adopted by all Swedish regions, which are responsible for provision of healthcare in Sweden. Several studies have shown positive outcomes of the Swedish PAP on patients’ physical activity and other health-related outcomes. There are no guidelines for best practises of the Swedish PAP, which has led to the development of different organizational structures for its delivery. This thesis project was developed with the ambition of providing knowledge for further development of PAP in clinical practise. Aim: The overall aim was to investigate and generate improved understanding of a structure for physical activity on prescription with access to physical activity counsellors, implemented in routine healthcare. Methods: To address the overall aim, four real-world studies with different design and analysis methods were carried out. The study population consisted of patients 18 years or older prescribed PAP in primary and secondary care in Region Kronoberg’s healthcare organization. Study I investigated characteristics of healthcare delivery of PAP over a four-year period, including all patients prescribed PAP in these years. Study II explored factors that influenced patient’s long-term engagement in physical activity after prescription. Study III investigated differences in physical activity and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) at one-year follow-up between patients who used versus patients who did not use counsellor support after prescription. Study IV investigated factors associated with patients increase in physical activity at one-year follow-up. Data sources for the studies were electronic medical records (Studies I, II, III and IV), individual interviews (Study II) and a baseline and a follow-up questionnaire (Studies III and IV). Different statistical analyses were performed in Studies I, III and IV. Study II used qualitative content analysis based on an approach including both inductive and deductive analysis. The final study samples of PAP recipients were N = 4,879 (Study I), n = 13 (Study II), n = 400 (Study = III) and n = 355 (Study IV). Results: Study I: 4,879 PAP recipients were identified, one-third had used the offer of counsellor support. PAP recipients had a high frequency of diagnosis and healthcare consumption prior to PAP. Counsellor users had higher frequency of multiple diagnoses and healthcare visits than non-counsellor users. The main prescriber of PAP was physicians and the main prescribing setting was primary care. Study II: PAP recipients’ long-term engagement with physical activity was influenced by the determinants of capability, opportunity, and motivation. Receiving a prescription of physical activity, and professional counselling and follow up from a physical activity counsellor, and adaption of PAP to the individual’s capacity were important for patients change of physical activity. Study III: Counsellor users had better outcomes in both physical activity and HRQoL than non-users of this support. Study IV: Nearly half of the PAP recipients had increased physical activity one year after prescription. Increased physical activity was positively associated with lower baseline activity, counsellor use, and positive perception of given support after PAP. Conclusions: Patients who were prescribed PAP had a high frequency of diagnoses and high healthcare consumption in the year prior to the prescription. Due to the positive findings regarding patient outcomes on physical activity, and patient experiences of counsellor support, it could be suggested that individualized counselling and follow up by a physical activity counsellor is of importance for patients’ engagement in physical activity, especially for patients with lower baseline activity. Since increased activity was also seen among nonusers of counsellor support, a general recommendation for physical activity counsellor support for all PAP recipients could not be suggested