Identifying Key Physical Activity Categories and Topics to Include in Health Professional Training Programs

Abstract

Phenomenon: Healthcare is an important sector in promoting physical activity (PA). However, few health professional training programs include PA, nor does standardized guidance exist on implementing it in the curriculum. This study aimed to consolidate health professional expert opinion on key PA categories and topics that should be included in the curriculum of health professional training programs. Approach: A three-round, modified e-Delphi process examined the opinions of 73 experts from seven health professions (clinical nutrition, exercise physiology, medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, physician assistants). In Round 1, panelists reported importance, ranked, and scored five broad PA categories, and responded to open-ended prompts for additional categories. In Round 2, panelists received summary feedback, re-ranked and re-scored PA categories, and suggested key PA topics within the five categories. In the final round, panelists viewed, ranked, and scored the PA topics. Findings: Expert panelists felt that all PA categories were important, with Health Behavior Change ranking the highest (98.7%) followed by Cellular and Systemic Implications of Exercise, Clinical Exercise Physiology, and PA and Public Health. The Administrative Aspects of Integrating PA into Health Systems ranked least important (48.0%). A consensus on the key PA categories was considered reached after two rounds. Five to eight specific PA topics were generated within each PA category and ranked in order of importance. Insights: These findings highlight several key PA categories and topics that can serve as a foundation for a diverse number of health professional training programs.

Keywords:

• Physical activity
• education
• curriculum
• health

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Adrian Hutber and Jennifer Pesarchick for their input in developing the research design. The authors would also like to extend our deepest appreciation to the expert panelists for the time and effort they dedicated to this important project.

Declaration of interest

Dr. Stoutenberg is a paid consultant for the American College of Sports Medicine, serving as a Program Officer for the Exercise is Medicine® initiative. The results of this study are presented honestly and without fabrication, falsification, or inappropriate data manipulation and do not constitute endorsement by the American College of Sports Medicine.