Recently a group of physiotherapists in The Netherlands synthesised the results from eleven qualitative studies into the reasons why hospital inpatients reduce their physical activity when in hospital. This generated interesting new insights into the problem:
- Hospital inpatients report that they would be more receptive to personalised exercise prescription than generic educational materials, partly because of concerns about safety;
- What inpatients perceive about the benefits of physical activity is an important influence on their intention to be physically active while in hospital;
- Patients may wait for encouragement to be physically active by hospital staff, which is sometimes perceived by hospital staff as a lack of enthusiasm to exercise;
- Family members could be involved more to motivate and monitor inpatient physical activity.
Overall, the authors of this literature review concluded that physical activity behaviour of patients during their hospital stay is a complex phenomenon with multiple interactions at the level of patients, healthcare professionals and hospital culture.
Considering the results of this synthesis, they recommended that multifaceted implementation strategies are needed to improve physical activity intention and behaviour of patients during their hospital stay.
> From: Koenders et al., J Physiother 67 (2021) 115-123 . All rights reserved to Australian Physiotherapy Association. Click here for the online summary.
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