Impact of different interventions on physical activity level and co- morbidities in women: a randomized controlled trial

OBJETIVO: Avaliar o impacto de diferentes intervenções no ambiente de trabalho para aumentar o nível de atividade física (AF) e redução de risco cardiovascular em mulheres de meia idade. DELINEAMENTO: Estudo aleatorizado e controlado com 4 intervenções. PARTICIPANTES: 195 mulheres de 40 a 50 anos, funcionárias de um hospital publico da cidade de São Paulo, que não realizavam AF no tempo de lazer. INTERVENÇÕES: Todas foram aleatorizadas para: Grupo controle (GI; 3 sessões de 15 min; n=47); Pedômetro+aconselhamento individual (GII; 3 sessões de 15 min; n=53); Pedômetro+aconselhamento em grupo (GIII; 8 sessões de 1h; n=48); Treinamento Aeróbico (GIV; 24 sessões de 30 min; n=47). Intervenções realizadas por 3 meses. DESFECHOS: Nº de passos total e moderado(>110 passos/min) pedômetro Yamax-PW 610, massa corpórea (Kg), circunferência cintura (cm) e fatores de saúde relacionados à qualidade de vida(FSRQV) após 3 e 6 meses. ANÁLISE ESTATÍSTICA: ANOVA de 1 fator e o pos-hoc de Holm-Sidak. Efetividade foi avaliada pela intenção de tratar. Calculou-se o tamanho do efeito. RESULTADOS: Apenas os grupos que utilizaram os pedômetros (GII e GIII) aumentaram significativamente o número total de passos após 3 meses (P 110 steps/min) steps number, body mass and waist circumference (secondary outcomes) after 3 or 6 months of intervention. RESULTS: Only the groups using pedometers (GII and GIII) significantly increased total steps number after 3 months (P<0.05); however the increase in total steps observed in GIII was higher than in GII (p<0.05). GIII also increased the number of moderate steps number. Moreover, after 6 months, no difference was observed among groups. Despite that, women did not modify the body mass that was reduced only in those of the AT group either after 3 and 6 months (-0.7 Kg) (P<0.05). Finally, it was found that interventions with the greatest number of sessions (GIII and GIV) had higher dropout (respectively, 30% and 45%) of participants when compared to GI and GII (respectively, 2% and 4%) (p <0.05).CONCLUSIONS: A pedometer-based intervention with counseling groups at workplace was more effective to increase physical activity at daily life while aerobic training is more effective for weight los

The role of physician counseling in improving adherence to physical activity among the general population

The regular practice of physical activity at appropriate levels ensures various benefits for the individual over the short, medium and long terms. It is therefore important in health promotion. On the other hand, sedentary behavior has reached alarming levels among the general population, which qualifies it as a serious health problem of endemic proportions. The present review describes public health problems consequent to sedentary behavior and the importance of physician counseling for change their patients’ beha-vior and making them more physically active on a regular basis. Models and behavioral theories are presented to facilitate physicians’ understan-ding of how to approach patients during clinical practice. We also describe programs conducted in many countries based on physician counseling for reducing sedentary behavior, and we present many tools used to quantify and qualify patients’ attitudes towards becoming more physically active. Through understanding the barriers faced by patients, we suggest methodologies that will enable physicians to use physical activity promotion appropriately. We hope that this will provide support for physicians in conducting physical activity counseling, as a means for improving the health of the population