Table 4.
Association of doctors’ PA counselling knowledge and attitudes with PA enquiry/counselling
| Enquire re: PA habits (n=523) | Provide written/verbal advice or prescription to patients (n=523) | |||||
| Yes n (%) |
No n (%) |
χ2 | Yes n (%) |
No n (%) |
χ2 | |
| Postgraduate hours received in health promotion | ||||||
| None | 117 (81.3%) | 27 (18.8%) | 13.7ns | 114 (79.2%) | 30 (20.8%) | 13.3* |
| <4 hours | 130 (86.7%) | 20 (13.3%) | 128 (85.3%) | 22 (14.7%) | ||
| 4–10 hours | 68 (97.1%) | 2 (2.9%) | 66 (94.3%) | 4 (5.7%) | ||
| 11–40 hours | 49 (92.5%) | 4 (7.5%) | 49 (92.5%) | 4 (7.5%) | ||
| >40 hours | 62 (91.2%) | 6 (8.8%) | 62 (91.2%) | 6 (8.8%) | ||
| Don’t know | 34 (89.5%) | 4 (10.5%) | 33 (86.8%) | 5 (13.2%) | ||
| Postgraduate hours received in PA counselling | ||||||
| None | 251 (83.7%) | 49 (16.3%) | 16.4** | 242 (80.7%) | 58 (19.3%) | 23.2*** |
| <4 hours | 103 (89.6%) | 12 (10.4%) | 104 (90.4%) | 11 (9.6%) | ||
| 4–10 hours | 48 (98.0%) | 1 (2.0%) | 49 (100.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | ||
| 11–40 hours | 16 (100.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 16 (100.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | ||
| >40 hours | 25 (100.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 24 (96.0%) | 1 (4.0%) | ||
| Don’t know | 17 (94.4%) | 1 (5.6%) | 17 (94.4%) | 1 (5.6%) | ||
| Efficacy in helping patients achieve change in PA habits | ||||||
| Very ineffective | 24 (57.1%) | 18 (42.9%) | 65.9*** | 21 (50.0%) | 21 (50.0%) | 74.8*** |
| Ineffective | 218 (83.8%) | 42 (16.2%) | 215 (82.7%) | 45 (17.3%) | ||
| Effective | 200 (99.0%) | 2 (1.0%) | 198 (98.0%) | 4 (2.0%) | ||
| Very effective | 18 (94.7%) | 1 (5.3%) | 18 (94.7%) | 1 (5.3%) | ||
| Priority placed on PA counselling in practice | ||||||
| Very low | 10 (43.5%) | 13 (56.5%) | 103.2*** | 5 (21.7%) | 18 (78.3%) | 156.9*** |
| Low | 56 (67.5%) | 27 (32.5%) | 51 (61.4%) | 32 (38.6%) | ||
| Medium | 140 (88.1%) | 19 (11.9%) | 144 (90.6%) | 15 (9.4%) | ||
| High | 126 (96.9%) | 4 (3.1%) | 125 (96.2%) | 5 (3.8%) | ||
| Self-rated knowledge of how to perform PA counselling | ||||||
| Very poor | 41 (64.1%) | 23 (35.9%) | 45.4*** | 34 (53.1%) | 30 (46.9%) | 75.6*** |
| Poor | 113 (87.6%) | 16 (12.4%) | 111 (86.0%) | 18 (14.0%) | ||
| Fair | 129 (89.0%) | 16 (11.0%) | 130 (89.7%) | 15 (10.3%) | ||
| Good | 137 (96.5%) | 5 (3.5%) | 137 (96.5%) | 5 (3.5%) | ||
| Very good/excellent | 40 (93.0%) | 3 (7.0%) | 40 (93.0%) | 3 (7.0%) | ||
| Self-rated confidence to perform PA counselling | ||||||
| Very poor | 42 (62.7%) | 25 (37.3%) | 58.7*** | 34 (50.7%) | 33 (49.3%) | 102.4*** |
| Poor | 110 (84.6%) | 20 (15.4%) | 105 (80.8%) | 25 (19.2%) | ||
| Fair | 128 (90.8%) | 13 (9.2%) | 134 (95.0%) | 7 (5.0%) | ||
| Good | 132 (98.5%) | 2 (1.5%) | 131 (97.8%) | 3 (2.2%) | ||
| Very good/excellent | 48 (94.1%) | 3 (5.9%) | 48 (94.1%) | 3 (5.9%) | ||
*p≤0.05; **p≤0.01; ***p≤0.001.
PA, physical activity; ns, not significant.