Physical activity is suggested in the prevention and treatment of chronic disease. Current guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes of physical activity per week. Registered nurses in the non-inpatient setting may have the opportunity to provide patient counseling about physical activity.
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the counseling behaviors of non-hospital based registered nurses (RN’s) related to physical activity counseling. This study examined the influence of level of nurse training, years of experience, and personal physical activity behaviors on these outcomes.
METHODS: Nurses from a state board of nursing and from an academic medical center (N=117) were surveyed regarding counseling behaviors, barriers to counseling, knowledge, ranking of health risk priorities and confidence with physical activity counseling.
RESULTS: Of five health risk counseling behaviors queried, 80.9% of nurses reported discussing with patients the intent to adopt a new health behavior; 75.4% of nurses reported advising patients to set goals for health. Respondents reportedly counsel 40% of patients on physical activity for 6.36 (±8.9) minutes per patient and the majority of nurses (68%) reported they agree or strongly agree they are confident counseling about physical activity. Nearly 60% correctly reported current guidelines as 150 minutes or more of physical activity per week. Of 10 health risk behaviors counseled by nurses, physical activity ranked 3rd highest of 10. The most frequently reported barrier to physical activity counseling was “patient not receptive”, reported by 47% of respondents. Further investigation of influence of level of nurse training, years of experience and personal physical activity behaviors on counseling behaviors of nurses is necessary. The results of this study should be interpreted with caution. The smaller than projected sample size, the low response rate and the selected groups of nurses may reduce the generalizability of these findings. CONCLUSION: Non-hospital based nurses are counseling patients regarding physical activity. The majority of nurses reported they are confident with physical activity counseling. Further investigation should expand the group of nurses and should recruit with intent of adequately representing targeted aims. Additionally, the role of training, years of experience and personal behavior should be emphasized
