@article {van der WardtBJGP.2020.0817, author = {Veronika van der Wardt and Claudio di Lorito and Annika Viniol}, title = {Promoting physical activity in primary care: a systematic review and meta-analysis}, elocation-id = {BJGP.2020.0817}, year = {2021}, doi = {10.3399/BJGP.2020.0817}, publisher = {Royal College of General Practitioners}, abstract = {Background: Promoting physical activity is an important part of patient care in primary care and has been investigated in many studies with a wide range of intervention characteristics often including external support. It is unclear, however, if promoting physical activity is effective. Aim: To investigate the effectiveness of behaviour change interventions to promote physical activity in primary care. Design and Setting: This is a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate physical activity promotion in a primary care setting. Method: Embase, Medline, PsycInfo and the Joanna Briggs Institute Database were searched for {\textquoteleft}physical activity{\textquoteright}, {\textquoteleft}interview{\textquoteright}, {\textquoteleft}motivation{\textquoteright}, {\textquoteleft}primary care{\textquoteright} and equivalent words to identify randomized controlled trials with physical activity as outcome at patient level. Results: The review identified 23 eligible studies. The quality appraisal showed that most studies reported insufficient details regarding randomization, group allocation, blinding and fidelity of intervention delivery. The included studies reported a wide range of interventions with varying numbers of follow-up visits or phone calls. The overall effect size for interventions with a 6 months follow-up interval was 0.04 (95\% CI -0.05 to 0.13), for interventions with a 12 months follow-up interval 0.2 (95\% CI 0.04 to 0.36). Only one intervention based on three motivational interviewing sessions achieved a moderate effect. Conclusion: Counselling to promote physical activity in primary care has a limited effect on patients{\textquoteright} behaviour and might not be, on its own, enough to change physical activity behaviour.}, issn = {0960-1643}, URL = {https://bjgp.org/content/early/2021/02/02/BJGP.2020.0817}, eprint = {https://bjgp.org/content/early/2021/02/02/BJGP.2020.0817.full.pdf}, journal = {British Journal of General Practice} }