Knowledge, attitudes and practices of general practitioners towards physical activity in the capital health region, Kuwait

ABSTRACT

Physical activity [PA] has been recognized as a key determinant of good health. Geneal practitioners [GPs] ate in good position to influence population levels of PA. This study aimed at assessing [GPs] knowledge about the benefits of PA in various health conditions and determining their attitudes, practice and barriers toward promoting regular PA in primary care settings. A cross-sectional study was conducted including all GPs working in the primary health care centers at the Capital health region in Kuwait.. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 147 GPs that included personal characteristics, Knowledge about the benefit of physical activity, attitudes of GPs towards promoting physical activity, conditions indicated for the GPs to give advice regarding PA, and barriers against promoting PA Four-point Likert-type scale was used to assess GPs response. GPs response rate was 76.2%. The majority of the respondents were females [60.7%]. The mean +/- SD age and number of years in practice were 36.4 +/- 9.5 and 12.1 +/- 7.7 years respectively. Overall, the knowledge percent score ranged/from 38.6 to 95.5 with a mean = 80.5%. Mostly all GPs [98.2%] believed that PA promotion is an important part of primary care work. 92% believed that their advice to increase activity was more effective when linked to a patient's presenting problem. The majority of GPs disagreed to discuss PA with the patient only when he mentioned it [88.4%]. Most of the GPs [91.1%] indicated that they always give advice to overweight patients Only 32.1% of GPs said that they would give advice to all patients. The most frequent barriers to promoting PA were lack of consultation time [87.6%]. lack of clear guidelines [62.5%], non-relevance of PA to the consultation [59.8]. Only 39.3% of GPs indicated that absence of patient interest was a barrier to promoting PA. Barriers to promoting PA were not owing to lack of knowledge, but probably reflect the working practices of GPs. Clear practice guidelines are needed to promote activity in a way that will have impact on the population level. An inquiry about, and discussion of physical activity are recommended to become part of routine office visits