Exercise is Medicine on Campus: A Scoping Review of Evidence 2009 to 2021 and Call to Action.

ABSTRACT: The Exercise is Medicine On Campus (EIM-OC) program began in 2009 at Chatham University by Dr. Robert Sallis, Dr. Carena Winters, and ACSM leadership. The vision of EIM-OC is "to see all campus and community members across multiple disciplines discover, share, and adopt the principles of EIM that will help change the culture of physical activity and chronic disease prevention and management campus wide." Although EIM-OC maintains close track of programmatic details, such as the number of registered and recognized institutions, a comprehensive review of EIM-OC publications has not been previously reported. The purpose of this scoping review was to 1) identify and examine all peer-reviewed evidence of EIM-OC, including scholarly articles and published abstracts of presentations; 2) analyze the key themes of EIM-OC implementation and outcomes; and 3) identify gaps in the literature. The scoping review covered all peer-reviewed publications, including scholarly articles and published abstracts, from 2009 to December 2021. In total, 9 scholarly articles and 46 published abstracts were included in this review. The articles and abstracts covered a wide range of topics, including gold level (physical activity assessment and exercise referral), silver level (physical activity education), and bronze level (physical activity awareness and promotion) activities, as well as evaluation of EIM-OC programming. Now that EIM-OC programming is firmly established, we now call on campuses and leaders to strengthen their reporting of EIM-OC outcomes at all levels: gold, silver, and bronze. Publishing research evidence will strengthen EIM-OC programming and initiatives. Specifically, we encourage publishing scholarly articles and using broad means for increasing dissemination.

Physical Activity Assessment and Promotion in Clinical Settings in the United States: A Scoping Review.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this scoping review was to systematically examine interventions that focused on physical activity assessment and promotion in clinical settings in the United States. DATA SOURCES: A literature search was performed in 6 major databases to extract published peer-reviewed studies from 2008 to 2019. INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION CRITERIA: Interventions with practicing health professionals in the United States who performed physical activity assessment and promotion with adult patients 18 years of age and older. Studies were excluded if they were published in non-English, observational or case study designs, or gray literature. DATA EXTRACTION: Studies were screened and coded based on the population, intervention, comparison, outcomes and study setting for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR) framework. Of 654 studies that were identified and screened for eligibility, 78 met eligibility criteria and were independently coded by two coders. DATA SYNTHESIS: Data were synthesized using qualitative and descriptive methods. RESULTS: Forty-three of the included studies were randomized controlled trials with a majority being delivered by physicians and nurses in primary care settings. Fifty-six studies reported statistically significant findings in outcome measures such as anthropometrics and chronic disease risk factors, with 17 demonstrating improvements in physical activity levels as a result of the interventions. CONCLUSION: The assessment and promotion of physical activity in clinical settings appears to be effective but warrants continued research.