Physical inactivity and sedentary behaviour is a major health concern and can lead to premature health problems. The NHS Health Checks are a way to assess the cardio-vascular health of adults aged between 40 and 75 years and is an ideal platform in which to deliver interventions to encourage increases in physical activity. However, although many of the interventions that had already been developed showed promising results, they were too long or too complex to be used in primary care health settings. Very brief interventions (VBIs) could be an effective and cost effective method to encourage adults to be more active but relatively little was known about their effectiveness.

We ran a programme of research over 5 years to develop and test some very brief interventions culminating in a randomised controlled trial to assess the most promising of these interventions (Step-It-Up) for its effectiveness and cost-effectiveness.

For more information on the VBI Programme see here.

 

Selected publications

GC VS, Suhrcke M, Hardeman W, Sutton S, Wilson ECF. (2017) Cost-Effectiveness and Value of Information Analysis of Brief Interventions to Promote Physical Activity in Primary Care. Value in Health; doi.org/10.1016/j.jval.2017.07.005

Pears S, Bijker M, Morton K, Vasconcelos J, Parker RA, Westgate K, Brage S, Wilson E, Prevost AT, Kinmonth A-L, Griffin S, Sutton S, Hardeman W, VBI Programme Team. (2016) A randomised controlled trial of three very brief interventions for physical activity in primary care. BMC Public Health; 16: 1033. doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-3684-7

Attwood S, Morton KL, Mitchell J, Van Emmenis M, Sutton S, VBI Programme Team. (2016) Reasons for non-participation in a primary care-based physical activity trial: a qualitative study. BMJ Open; 6: e011577. doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-011577

Gc V, Wilson EC, Suhrcke M, Hardeman W, Sutton S, VBI Programme Team. (2015) Are brief interventions to increase physical activity cost-effective? A systematic review. British Journal of Sports Medicine; doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2015-094655

Pears S, Morton K, Bijker M, Sutton S, Hardeman W, VBI Programme Team. (2015) Development and feasibility study of very brief interventions for physical activity in primary care; 15: 333. doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-1703-8