Tailored physical activity on prescription with follow-ups improved motivation and physical activity levels. A qualitative study of a 5-year Swedish primary care intervention

OBJECTIVE: To explore how physically inactive patients, with metabolic risk factors, experienced long term treatment with physical activity on prescription. DESIGN: Qualitative content analysis of individual interviews after strategical sampling of respondents. SETTING: Fifteen primary health care centres in Gothenburg, Sweden. SUBJECTS: Twenty physically inactive patients, with one or more metabolic syndrome components, 9 women, 11 men, mean age 58 years (25–73); 10 patients were responders and 10 non-responders to the intervention. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Categories describing treatment effect and successful intervention RESULTS: The interviews revealed three categories of effect. First, individual adjustments contributed to increased physical activity. Second, follow-up and support were valuable aids for prioritising and maintaining lifestyle changes. Third, motivation could be higher if patients make their own choices and experienced positive health effects. The overarching emerging theme was ‘tailored physical activity on prescription with regular follow-ups can contribute to increased and maintained motivation and physical activity levels.’ Conclusion KEY POINTS: Individually adapted physical activity on prescription gave insight to increase physical activity levels in a 5-year Swedish primary care intervention directed towards inactive patients with the metabolic syndrome. Motivation increased for patients designing their own routines for physical activity. Experiences of positive health effects helped maintain or increase physical activity levels, and follow-up and support from healthcare professionals helped to prioritise life style changes.