Enhancing health care professionals’ and trainees’ knowledge of physical activity guidelines for adults with and without SCI

Abstract

Background: Health care providers (HCPs) are preferred sources of physical activity (PA) information; however, minimal research has explored HCPs’ knowledge of spinal cord injury (SCI) PA guidelines, and no research has examined HCP trainees’ PA guideline knowledge.Objective: The current study explored HCPs’ and trainees’ initial knowledge of PA guidelines for both adults with SCI and the general population, and the utility of an event-based intervention for improving this knowledge.Methods: Participants (HCPs n = 129; trainees n = 573) reported guideline knowledge for both sets of guidelines (SCI and general population) immediately after, one-month, and six-months following the intervention. Frequencies determined guideline knowledge at each timepoint, while chi-squared tests examined differences in knowledge of both guidelines, as well as knowledge differences in the short- and long-term.Results: Results demonstrated that HCPs and trainees lack knowledge of PA guidelines, particularly guidelines for adults with SCI. The results further suggest that a single event-based intervention is not effective for improving long-term guideline knowledge.Conclusion: Suggestions are made for future research with the aim of improving interventions that target HCP and HCP trainees’ long-term guideline knowledge for adults with SCI and the general population.