A 10-hours workshop improves physical activity prescription for mental illness knowledge and confidence in health care professionals: a nation-wide multicentre study from Uganda

Abstract

Purpose

Lack of knowledge about and confidence in physical activity (PA) prescription for people with mental illness are important barriers for clinical practice in low-income countries. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether a 10-hour workshop improved the knowledge and confidence in PA prescription among health care professionals in 13 regional referral hospitals across Uganda.

Material and methods

260 health care professionals (age = 40.4 ± 10.8 years; 48% women; 63.8% nurses, 10% social workers, 8.1% psychologists, 7.3% medical doctors, 5.8% psychiatrists, 5% physical or occupational therapists) completed the Exercise in Mental Illness Questionnaire – Health Professionals Version (EMIQ-HP) pre- and post-workshop.

Results

The EMIQ-HP PA knowledge score (3.1 ± 0.7 versus 1.3 ± 1.3, p < 0.001, Cohen’s d = 1.28, 95% confidence interval, CI = 1.04–1.52, i.e., large effect) and EMIQ-HP confidence in PA prescription score (3.0 ± 0.8 versus 1.2 ± 1.2, p < 0.001, Cohen’s d = 1.14, 95% CI = 0.91–1.36, i.e., large effect) improved significantly following training. Significantly more benefits and fewer barriers to prescribing PA in busy low-resourced settings were reported.

Conclusions

Training in PA counselling improved the knowledge and confidence in PA prescription in Ugandan health care professionals. Future research should investigate whether PA uptake in people with mental illness can be improved via additional training of health care professionals.

IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION

• The majority of mental health professionals never recommend physical activity to their patients in low-resourced settings and increased awareness is needed to improve rehabilitation programs.

• Training in prescribing physical activity using the 5A framework improves knowledge about physical activity prescription in mental health professionals at all levels of care.

• Training in prescribing physical activity using motivational interviewing improves confidence in physical activity prescription in rehabilitation programs.

• Training in prescribing physical activity reduces perceived barriers for prescribing in rehabilitation programs in low-resourced settings.

Keywords:

• Education
• mental health
• physical activity
• training
• low-income country

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data can be obtained from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Vlaamse Interuniversitaire Raad (VLIR-UOS) with a South Initiative grant [SI-2019-01-21].