Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate counseling on aerobic exercise, stretch exercise and weight training practiced by teaching staff in family medicine specialty training hospitals in Taiwan. A structured questionnaire was mailed to all 373 registered staff members of Taiwan Association of Family Medicine between April to June 2004. The results showed that 95%, 85% and 63% of physicians reported to have provided counseling on aerobic exercise, stretch exercise and weight training to their patients, respectively. However, only 74%, 39%, 31% of the physicians respectively had suggested appropriate amount of physical activities which met the criteria recommended by The American College of Sports Medicine. Most physicians made counseling in less than 3 minutes, and mostly by oral instruction only. The major barriers to practice counseling were lack of handy educational materials, insufficient time and insufficient counseling experience in sequence. Those who had inquired patients of physical activity for more than twice a year had highter tendency to practice exercise counseling, the odds ratios for aerobic exercise, stretch exercise and weight training were 1.8, 2.5 and 4.1 respectively. In conclusion, although exercise counseling is a common practice by family physicians, most physicians provide counseling to less than 20% of their patients only, and are not confident of its effectiveness. It indicates that physicians are not satisfied with their exercise counseling practice. Adequate educational materials and enhanced exercise counseling training are needed for improvement.
Translated title of the contribution | Exercise Counseling by Teaching Staff of Family Medicine Specialty Training Hospitals |
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Original language | Chinese (Traditional) |
Pages (from-to) | 26-39 |
Journal | 臺灣家庭醫學研究 = Taiwan Family Medicine Research |
Volume | 4 |
Issue number | 1 |
Publication status | Published - 2006 Jan 1 |