Providing Physical Activity Access Through Health Care: The PA2TH Pilot Study

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bowen PG ; Hammond S ; Khalidi S ; Levi P ; Patel B
• Description:
  Despite nurse practitioners' (NPs') and other health care providers' (HCPs') understanding of the advantages of physical activity (PA), only one-third of patients receive PA counseling from their HCP. Physical inactivity remains a significant health problem in the United States. Use of health care visits for PA discussions as part of usual care may improve patients' PA behaviors, which are especially important for patients with chronic diseases, such as diabetes. The purpose of this study was to determine whether PA discussions guided by the Exercise is Medicine initiative would improve (1) PA discussions with patients at each visit, (2) self-reported patient PA behaviors, and (3) patient hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels. We enrolled 20 patients and 7 HCP participants and conducted a 12-week pre-post study with 3 phases (baseline assessments, intervention implementation, and intervention evaluation) to determine whether the PA intervention would improve PA behaviors. Patients' post-HbA1c levels (8.5% [SD, 1.6%]) were reduced from prestudy levels (10.8% [SD, 2.4%]; P = .001), with an average decrease of 2.3 (SD, 2.8; Cohen d = 0.9, large effect). HCPs' primary perceived barrier to PA discussions was time constraints. Findings may motivate HCPs to include PA discussions during health care visits as a nonpharmaceutic method to improve HbA1c levels and lessen the consequences of physical inactivity among vulnerable patients with diabetes. HCPs should actively encourage PA during each health care visit as a powerful tool to enhance overall well-being and manage chronic health conditions, including diabetes. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Health Personnel Health Promotion Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Activity Levels Author Keywords: Diabetes Management Diabetes Health Care Personnel Health Care Providers Health Promotion Intervention Effectiveness Nurse Practitioner Physical Activity Discussions Physical Activity Promotion Physical Fitness Primary Care

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• ISSN:
  1555-4155
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Alabama ; Birmingham Region [OSHA]
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  21
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20070353
• Citation:
  J Nurse Pract 2025 Jan; 21(1):105253
• Email:
  plevi@southalabama.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2025
• Performing Organization:
  University of Alabama at Birmingham
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  The Journal for Nurse Practitioners
• End Date:
  20270630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5174dac44672805382d28fd551e2f943e58dbe0441ea0927129c0f32bfed5ee5655ce6f9bc3b258553473437f38de3c638c85f9817335052a394e4cfb80f9cae
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/208585/cdc_208585_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 405.20 KB ]