Professional paper
Training Health Care Providers on Health-Enhancing Physical Activity
Marija Rakovac
orcid.org/0000-0003-0098-4938
; Kineziološki fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
Chronic noncommunicable diseases are the main cause of morbidity and mortality in the world. One of the most important risk factors for developing these diseases is physical inactivity. Moreover, physical
inactivity is the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality. Despite these well-known facts, there is a high prevalence of physical inactivity and insuffi cient physical activity in the world. Croatia is no exception to this trend. Promoting physical activity is thus one of the most important worldwide public health tasks. Primary health care providers should play an important role in individual patient counselling and exercise prescription. However, their potential in that context is not fully utilised. One of the reasons for this is the
lack of systematic training on health-enhancing physical activity. A multi-organisational, today even global, initiative Exercise is medicineTM, launched in 2007, is a step towards adopting physical activity as a standard part of global disease prevention and treatment – physical activity is both a medicine and a health-promoting behaviour. It should be considered one of the vital signs that should be checked on each patient visit. Health care providers should, therefore, be trained to assess the patient’s current physical activity level, perform preparticipation health screening and risk stratifi cation, prescribe physical activity, and recognize the
patient’s motivation level and stage of health behaviour change, providing adequate counselling.
Keywords
behaviour change; counselling; exercise; health behaviour; primary health care
Hrčak ID:
92085
URI
Publication date:
16.11.2012.
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