Hekimlerin Egzersiz Reçetelendirmesi Hakkındaki Bilgi ve Tutumlarını Ölçme

Abstract

Akçer, Mehmet Emin, Assessment Of Knowledge and Attıtudes of Famıly Practısıoners About Exercıse Prescrıbtıon, Hacettepe University Department of Sports Medicine, Ankara, 2017. Physical inactivity is associated with adverse heath outcomes. According to literature regular physical activity reduces the incidence of developing many chronic heath conditions. Primary care physicians are probably in the best position to individualize exercise prescriptions for their patients. There is no study showing the gap between the actual and the desirable frequencies that family doctors ask, consult and prescribe patients regarding physical activity in Turkey. Therefore this study was designed to assess the proportion of primary care physicians, who ask, counsel and prescribe about the exercise, also factors and barriers that were associated with it. For this purpose, questionnaires were administered voluntarily to 413 of the 737 family physicians working in 124 family health centers in the central provinces of Ankara. Eight out of 413 physicians were removed from the study because they didn’t filled questionnaires fully. 405 family physicians with mean BMI 26.7 (±2.9 SD), where 55.6% were male and 44.4% women respectively, filled the questionnaire completely. 30.1% of family physicians reported that they ask about, 20% counsel about and only 4.4% prescribe their patients about exercise. Only half of physicians were familiar with the new Sağlık Bakanlık recommendations. Lack of time, needing more practice and not adequate exercise knowledge were important barriers to exercise counseling and prescription. In our study no statistical changes were found between IPAQ and general practitioners who prescribe or counsel exercise. Primary care physicians are probably in the best position to individualize exercise prescriptions for their patients and thus diminish the incidence of developing many chronic diseases. Therefore physicians must be encouraged to improve their knowledge about exercise prescription to increase physical activity in their patients.

Key words: physical activity, family physician, questionnaire, exercise, prescription.