Table 3.

Barriers to GPs performing physical activity assessments.

Barrier	Illustrative quotes
Time	See text
Patient interest/motivation	‘It's one of those things that I think … a lot of people aren't particularly willing to get into a discussion about.’ (GP8)
GP perception that physical activity is difficult to assess	‘I find physical activity is a bit harder to assess … it doesn't kind of fit easily into one of those tick a box things.’ (GP8)
	‘The smoking and the alcohol is quick [to assess]. It's easy. It's quicker. Physical activity is not.’ (GP10)
Subjective nature of assessment (see accuracy)	‘You can sort of get a description of it [physical activity] but … quantifying it — I don't think so.’ (GP3)
	‘There is no standard parameter where we can put some patients on and compare them to a standard level.’ (GP11)
	‘People's perceptions of what … quality exercise is and the reality is sometimes quite varied.’ (GP13)
Lack of GP satisfaction	‘I guess you don't get so much of a gain from it [assessing physical activity] as a doctor … you don't get the personal satisfaction of fixing something. It's kind of this on going kind of lingering thing that you can never get quite right.’ (GP8)
Lack of GP interest	‘Some GPs are just not interested in talking about that [physical activity].’ (GP1)
Difficulty depends on level of rapport	‘I gauge how the rapport is. If the rapport's good … I will bring it [physical activity] up again.’ (GP1)
	‘[Patients] become more confident in revealing things to you when you get to know them.’ (GP10)
More difficult in some subgroups of patients
Disability in a patient	‘I've got a gentleman who's … got a leg prosthesis … you might feel a bit reluctant to bring that [physical activity] up.’ (GP9)
Awareness of not causing body image problems in teenage girls	‘I'm always a little bit wary especially in … young teenage girls if you start talking too much about diet and exercise 'cos [sic] you don't want to sow the wrong seed there.’ (GP9)