My apologies for being away.I have been off enjoying the finer things in life- but not to worry I am back!
Today I would like to share with you a new program idea.
I met with a friend and colleague last week. We both had the same supervisor at school and both survived doing research in exercise physiology. Fun times!
My friend now works in a primary care network (PCN), working directly with patients who are referred to him by physicians.
As with all of our visits, the first hour is shop talk. He shared with me some new exciting things the PCN is doing, especially with the programs they are planning to offer.The program they want to implement, is to offer their patients a choice.Yes a choice! Let me explain.
They are planning for this program to be targeting patients who have weight management issues and/or type 2 diabetes.The patients who enter this program will go through introductory sessions on chronic disease management, with a focus on tools to help them with behaviour change (goal-setting, self-monitoring, etc).Once the patient completes these sessions they are given the option to have further assistance in either nutrition or physical activity. Of course, the patients can also get assistance in the other area they may not have initially chosen.
I think this is a great idea, which could be quite successful.
Motivation is a key aspect of changing behaviour.Providing patients a sense of autonomy (ie, a choice, sense that they have control) can be very helpful to maintain motivation.
I am very eager to hear about their program as it develops.I will also be curious to learn if the adherence to this program is better and of course the long term outcomes of their patients.
So, what do you think?Is offering choice useful?Have you seen programs do something similar?How can we give them a sense of autonomy and a sense of control to the people we work with?
It could be considered common knowledge that physical activity is very important to maintaining and improving our health.
As practitioners we know this, and most of the public has a pretty good idea they should.
That being said, it's nice to be reminded of the heath benefits. It reminds me why I care about my work and why I choose this field in the first place.
I first saw this on Facebook and then of course it got passed along via blogs and emails. So I am just continuing the love. Oh, don't worry, the video fun does not stop here.
I appreciate videos. They are (usually) more entertaining then reading a document or paper. They can be a great way to share information and inspire folks, and with the help of technology they can reach a lot of people.
Now the next video is a bit longer... its from TED.
This one discusses the concept of public health. Though the speaker's references are NOT about physical activity, I think her point is important to the physical activity field. "People do stupid things" (i.e. not be active), "for perfectly rational reasons."
We may know the benefits and all the reasons why we should be more active, yet most of us are not active enough. Why? To help answer this question we need to look beyond the individual and understand how society and policies shape behaviour.
I had the absolute pleasure to meet Dr. Catrine Tudor-Locke last week.For those of you who may not be too familiar with her work, she does a lot of research regarding walking and pedometers.
I wanted to share a couple items of her latest research which I thought was quite exciting and practical.
Step count recommendations:
All too often in my work I am asked about the 10,000 steps count “target” for adults.Interestingly enough there is not much research supporting it as a target itself.The 10,000 steps was basically a number that was develop out of best practice and fit well with public health and physical activity promotion needs. Dr. Tudor-Locke recently published three reviews, which are open to the general public that have recommendations with step counts for children/youth, adults and older adults.In these reviews she has looked at the research to help develop step count recommendations.
Basically, she debunked the 10,000 step “target”, indicating that for adults there may be health benefits with daily step counts at around 7000.Of course there is nothing wrong with aiming for 10,000 steps, however it should not been seen as the only target.In fact, researchers have also shown that increasing your step counts above what you normally do may be more important than achieving a set target.
Cadence:
The other item Dr. Tudor-Locke is researching is the importance of cadence, i.e. how fast we walk.
It makes sense to think about our walking speed. When we look at the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines we are encouraged to be active at a moderate-vigorous intensity. Therefore by looking at our cadence (i.e. our steps/min), we can get an idea of intensity.
In her work she has shown that about 100 steps/min is equivalent to 3 METS. For those of you who don’t have a background in exercise physiology, this could be interpreted as moderate intensity.
So what does this all mean for us practitioners?Well, pedometers are still a great tool to get people moving more and hopefully moving more regularly.
Encourage the people you work with to increase their step counts above their typical levels. Don’t worry as much about them achieving 10,000 steps, but perhaps encourage them to set step counts for themselves. For example, if a person you work with gets on average 6000 steps/ day, perhaps a meaningful and realistic goal for this person is to increase their step count up to 7000-8000 steps/day.
Use cadence as a learning tool for your clients.For example, have them try walking at least 100 steps/minute for a few minutes. This allows them to get an idea of what their pace should be at when walking at a moderate intensity. Have them try different cadences to see which one they feel comfortable with.The idea of doing this is help create a sense of how fast they should be walking to get more benefit out of their steps.
So how have you used pedometers and walking in the programs you run?I would like to hear your stories and ideas.
Last week I had the honour to help facilitate a consultation on the Active Canada 20/20 National Physical Activity Strategy at Alberta’s Action on Wellness Symposium. For those who may not be familiar with Active Canada 20/20, I would definitely encourage you to check out the website.
This strategy is being developed by a steering committee of organizations and stakeholders around the country who feel that Canada needs a physical activity strategy. Other countries have strategies (e.g.,USA, Scotland) and we need one too.
The goal is to provide clear direction and vision on helping to increase physical activity opportunities and reducing sedentary behaviours.It is planned that this strategy will be presented to the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Ministers responsible for physical activity in their jurisdiction in April 2012.
During the summer months there was an online survey to gather feedback on the Strategy. Now the steering committee is taking the consultation process further by hosting facilitated consultations in many of the provinces and territories.Alberta was fortunate enough to host the 3rd consultation just last week in Banff.
As you might guess, the purpose to the consultation was to get some direct feedback from practitioners and decision makers in the physical activity field on the Active Canada 20/20 strategy.It was a very busy three hour facilitation process, but fantastic to hear all the ideas and suggestions that emerged.
By chance or luck, there was a large group of high school students who were able to participate. What a fantastic addition to the process!Even though some of the concepts being discussed were at a policy and organizational level, many of these students were able to provide clear and original suggestions.
Currently the Active Canada 20/20 is in draft format, so this is the perfect time for YOU to provide some feedback of your own.So, even if you did not make it to the consultation process, I encourage you to review the strategy and share your ideas and suggestions.
