Desirability and feasibility of physical activity as medicine
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring the desirability and feasibility of physical activity as medicine in usual NHS care
IRAS ID
182331
Contact name
Helen Speake
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sheffield Hallam University
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 31 days
Research summary
The benefits of physical activity (PA) for preventing, treating and supporting recovery from illness is well documented. There are many ways that the NHS supports patients to be more physically active, but many patients do not act on referrals, whilst interventions that are successful within controlled trial conditions often prove less feasible for professionals to deliver everyday. This research will take a different approach, starting from the perspectives of frontline healthcare professionals who deliver services and support patients, and the patients themselves.
The research will apply principles of user-centred design to explore the practicalities of delivering and receiving 'physical activity as medicine'. User-centred design involves the techniques which private sector designers use to create products and services which meet the real-world needs of customers and users. It is increasingly being recognised that this mindset can be applied to the design of public sector and healthcare services to create more patient-centred solutions. This means designing a patient pathway which facilitates and supports PA whilst also recognising the training, support and resources needed by health professionals to appropriately deliver that support.
Phase A
Interviews will be carried out with patients and from several clinical areas, to understand their views and experiences of 'Physical Activity as Medicine'.Phase B
A series of group design workshops will be run, designed to stimulate discussion and encourage creative thinking about promoting PA. Popular ideas will be worked up into prototypes, with the aim being to design a service blueprint for promoting PA. Patients and professionals will have opportunities to feed back on prototypes so that gradual improvements can be made, reducing the chances of unsuitable ideas being piloted and tackling potential barriers along the way.REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/EM/0515
Date of REC Opinion
12 Nov 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion