An Active Approach to Health, Increasing physical activity amongst individuals with sedentary lifestyles through person-centred motivational support

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

An Active Approach to Health: Increasing physical activity amongst individuals with sedentary lifestyles through person-centred motivational support The Active Health Project aims to assist sedentary patients to increase their physical activity levels using Link Workers (LWs) from a social enterprise in the Scottish Highlands. The value of non-clinical based health interventions and social prescribing is increasingly recognised. Exercise groups, outdoor activities, art therapies and peer support are all proving popular in ‘treating’ both mental health conditions and addressing sedentary lifestyles. However, GPs and other primary care health professionals do not have capacity to undertake the required assessment and ‘signposting’. Based in four Highland GP practices, the LWs are employed by Velocity, an Inverness-based social enterprise promoting cycling as a way of helping people adopt healthier lifestyles, encourage sustainable travel and improve mental wellbeing. Health professionals refer patients to the LWs, who then help them develop an activity plan with targets tailored to individual needs, preferences and levels of self-confidence. The project offers more than activity signposting and differs from generic health advice participants may have received from healthcare professionals. By delivering personalised support, the project aims to help people address long-standing personal barriers to physical activity take-up and motivate them to change habitual sedentary lifestyles. The project is funded through the Smarter Choices, Smarter Places (SCSP) Open Fund, which focusses on behaviour change, aiming to encourage everyday walking or cycling and sustainable travel methods for longer journeys.
The pilot programme is being evaluated in two stages by the Rural Health and Well-being team at the University of the Highland and Islands (UHI). In 2019/20 UHI assessed the programme’s capacity to increase physical activity, change attitudes to exercise and improve self-motivation amongst patients with sedentary lifestyles. The analysis of interview and questionnaire data indicated the experience had helped some participants make lifestyle changes. Even small progress towards increasing physical activity appeared to yield significant results in terms of generating the self-motivation and confidence required for longer term behavioural change. In 2021 the aim is to examine the transformative mechanism underlying the impact of person-centred motivational support as well as the challenges of embedding non-NHS LWs in the GP practice. This stage will also investigate whether the LW/patient relationship has an impact on the sustainability of lifestyle change. Building on the 2019/20 findings, it will add to the social prescribing evidence base by examining key factors such as the accessibility of activities, barriers to lifestyle change, building self-motivation and the dynamics of the patient/LW relationship.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusUnpublished - 2021
Externally publishedYes
EventInternational Social Innovation Research Conference: Enabling the change! Social innovation and enterprises for a better future - Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
Duration: 8 Sept 202110 Sept 2021
Conference number: 13th

Conference

ConferenceInternational Social Innovation Research Conference
Country/TerritoryItaly
CityMilan
Period8/09/2110/09/21

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'An Active Approach to Health, Increasing physical activity amongst individuals with sedentary lifestyles through person-centred motivational support'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this