Centre for Policy on Ageing



The role of general practice in promoting physical activity as a healthy lifestyle behaviour in older people
Author(s)	D R Eadie, M Stead, P Teer
Journal title	Health Care in Later Life, vol 1, no 3, August 1996
Pages	pp 156-163
Keywords	Exercise ; General practice ; General practitioners ; District nurses ; Scotland.
Annotation	The role that general practice plays in promoting physical activity in older people was examined as part of a recent study designed to guide the development of a national communications initiative in Scotland. The qualitative element of the study, which was conducted with general practitioners (GPs) and community nursing staff and used a combination of depth interviewing and focus group discussion techniques, revealed that primary health care professionals' (PHCPs) views on the benefits of physical activity are largely consistent with lay beliefs. Significantly, both groups consider participation to be of greater relevance to mental and social well-being than to physical well-being. Although these results cannot easily be generalised, they do indicate that PHCPs often believe that it is ineffective or inappropriate to adopt a healthy lifestyle approach with older client groups. They prefer instead to tailor advice to improve the individual's quality of life.
Accession Number	CPA-980212212 A
Classmark	CEA: L5: QT6: QTG: 9A
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.