Changing physician practice of physical activity counseling

We conducted a prospective controlled trial to determine whether an educati onal intervention could improve resident physician self-efficacy and counse ling behaviors for physical activity and increase their patients' reported activity levels. Forty-eight internal medicine residents who practiced at a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital received either two workshops on p hysical activity counseling or no intervention. All residents completed que stionnaires before and 3 months after the workshops. The 21 intervention ph ysicians reported increased self-efficacy for counseling and increased freq uency of counseling compared with the 27 control physicians. Approximately 10 patients of each resident were included in the study and surveyed before and 6 months after the intervention. Of 560 patients, 465 (83%) returned b oth questionnaires. Following the intervention, there were no significant d ifferences between patients of intervention and control physicians on any o utcome measures. We conclude that educational interventions can improve phy sicians' reported self-efficacy of physical activity counseling but may not increase patient physical activity levels. Alternative approaches that emp hasize overcoming the substantial barriers to exercise in chronically ill o utpatients clearly will be important for facilitating changes in physical a ctivity.