Public Health England Physical Activity Infographic Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Does Public Health England’s Adult Physical Activity Infographic Improve Patient Understanding of the Relationship between Physical activity and Health?
IRAS ID
213380
Contact name
Polly McGuigan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bath Pro-Vice Chancellor Research
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 3 days
Research summary
Regular physical activity is effective in the prevention and management of many chronic medical conditions. Despite the recognised health benefits, a large proportion of adults in the UK are failing to achieve the recommended levels of activity. There are a number of potential explanations including a lack of a clear understanding of the current Department of Health (DoH) guidelines and the relationship between physical activity and health. Public Health England (PHE) have produced a physical activity infographic to help healthcare professionals start a conversation and provide practical advice to patients on how to incorporate physical activity into their everyday life. Although developed for healthcare professionals, we perceive that this resource could be of value for patients to improve their knowledge on physical activity. Therefore, our primary aim is to investigate whether this resource meets our requirement of providing patients with a minimum level of knowledge of the relationship between physical activity and health including the current DoH guidelines. Phase 1 of our study will use a physical activity questionnaire to assess the baseline level of knowledge of a group of patients registered at a local general practice (phase 1 participants). The participants will then be given the PHE physical activity infographic and using it as a reference asked to re-answer the questionnaire. Dependent on the outcome of Phase 1, we will either conclude that the PHE infographic is suitable for patient use in its current form or the study will proceed in to Phase 2. Phase 2 will seek to re-design the infographic with input from phase 1 participants. The ‘improved’ Infographic will then be tested (phase 3) on a different cohort of patients from another Sheffield General Practice to determine whether it addresses the gap in knowledge demonstrated in phase 1 of our study.
REC name
South Central - Oxford C Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/SC/0479
Date of REC Opinion
10 Oct 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion