Exploring public perception of brief interventions for physical activity, for the management of musculoskeletal pain, in Wales

Purpose: Exploring the experiences of those with musculoskeletal (MSK) pain, having received physical activity (PA) brief intervention (BI) by healthcare professionals; understanding how the advice was received and whether advice influenced behaviour change (BC). It will examine whether individualised approaches were received and whether BC interventions were supportive and resulted in PA levels in accordance with national guidelines. Methods: Qualitative design was used to recruit participants into semi-structured focus group interviews. Public & Patient Involvement (PPI) volunteers helped design questions mapped against the Theoretical Domain Framework. Initial purposive sampling strategy was employed to target PPI groups with MSK conditions, within Cardiff University & Swansea University. A secondary robust convenience sampling strategy was devised targeting individuals within the community using Twitter & Facebook. Posts linked with Cymru Versus Arthritis, Versus Arthritis, Health Care & Research Wales, NIHR and Cardiff University social media handles & platforms advertising to a collective audience of over 94k followers. Hashtags used were: #physicalactivityresearch, #physicalactivity & #loveactivity. Recruitment posters were also displayed in most Cardiff Community Hubs and Cardiff University Building on Heath Campus. Marketing within National Exercise Referral Scheme locations did not receive consent from stakeholders within the research timeframe. Inclusion criteria; adults with MSK pain who had received PA BI. Travel expenses were covered. Results: Focus group attendance did not reach minimum sampling numbers. Two participants in each Cardiff and Swansea focus group, conducted in October 2019 were used as pilot studies. Participants found differentiating between exercise prescription PA BI challenging. A secondary searched strategy achieved just over 20.4k Twitter impressions and 101 retweets although successful participant recruitment was not achieved within the time fame. This highlights the difficulty to recruit within the MSK pain populations who have received BI to increase PA and in capturing the uptake on PA following advice