EXERCISE COUNSELLING BY FAMILY PHYSICIANS IN CANADA

Abstract

2083 The purpose of this study was to assess physician confidence, knowledge, current practice, exercise habits and barriers related to the counselling of exercise by family physicians in Canada. A two-page questionnaire was developed and a pre-test was conducted with 13 local family physicians. This was followed by a national survey on a stratified random sample of family physicians in six provinces that yielded a 61.2% response rate. Data from the 330 respondents revealed only 12.1% of physicians provided exercise prescriptions that met American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommendations, 9.7% felt very knowledgeable in exercise counselling, and 11.8% counselled 75-100% of their patients about exercise. A total of 22.4% of physicians exercised according to ACSM guidelines. Barriers cited as important included insufficient exercise education in postgraduate medical training and not enough time to counsel. Several areas of sub-optimal exercise counselling by family physicians in Canada were identified. Future exercise counselling educational opportunities for physicians (during and after training) are necessary if family physicians in Canada desire an active role in exercise promotion. Additional research is required to determine whether alternative models (using both fitness professionals and family physicians) would result in more patients receiving exercise counselling.