Cancer survivors' experiences of a physical activity program in primary care: a qualitative study.

Purpose: This study aimed to gain insight into the experiences of, and reasons for, cancer survivors participating in a primary care PA program.

Methods: We interviewed 17 patients from 11 Dutch GP practices. Patients were selected by purposive sampling based on their general practice, gender, educational level, motivation for PA, and change in PA.

The effects of a moderate physical activity intervention on physical fitness and cognition in healthy elderly with low levels of physical activity: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Increasing physical activity is one of the most promising and challenging interventions to delay or prevent cognitive decline and dementia.

Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial to assess the effects of a physical activity intervention, aimed at increasing step count, in elderly with low levels of physical activity on measures of strength, balance, aerobic capacity, and cognition. Participants were assigned to 9 months of exercise counseling or active control.

Implementation and evaluation of a physical activity counselling programme in primary care among cancer survivors: SoDA study protocol.

Introduction: Physical activity (PA) favourably affects various health outcomes in cancer survivors, but little is known about how to implement a PA programme in primary care. We therefore aim to implement and evaluate such a programme for cancer survivors in general practice.

Methods And Analyses: The Stimulation of Daily Activity study is an implementation study with a single-arm longitudinal design in 15 Dutch general practices.

Home-based Physical Activity to Alleviate Fatigue in Cancer Survivors: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Purpose: Physical activity (PA) affects fatigue and mental health in cancer survivors favorably, but participation in PA interventions tends to be low. More participants may be reached by home-based PA owing to greater accessibility and self-monitoring. This systematic review therefore evaluated the effects of home-based PA of low to moderate intensity on symptoms of fatigue, depression, and anxiety among cancer survivors.

A systematic review of the association between nursing staff and nursing-sensitive outcomes in long-term institutional care.

Aims: To examine the association between type of nursing staff and nursing-sensitive outcomes in long-term institutional care.

Design: This systematic review included studies published in English, German, and Dutch between January 1997 and January 2020.

Data Sources: The databases Medline (PubMed), CINAHL, PsycINFO, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched.

The consistency between planned and actually given nursing care in long-terminstitutional care.

Continuous information exchange between healthcare professionals is facilitated by individualized care plans. Compliance with the planned care as documented in care plans is important to provide person-centered care which contributes to the continuity of care and quality of care outcomes. Using the Nursing Interventions Classification, this study examined the consistency between documented and actually provided interventions by type of nursing staff with 150 residents in long-term institutional care.

Accuracy of documentation in the nursing care plan in long-term institutional care.

Nursing staff working in long-term institutional care attend to residents with an increasing number of severe physical and cognitive limitations. To exchange information about the health status of these residents, accurate nursing documentation is important to ensure the safety of residents. This study examined the accuracy of nursing documentation in 197 care plans of five long-term institutional care facilities.

Randomized Trial of a Lifestyle Program in Obese Infertile Women.

Background: Small lifestyle-intervention studies suggest that modest weight loss increases the chance of conception and may improve perinatal outcomes, but large randomized, controlled trials are lacking.

Methods: We randomly assigned infertile women with a body-mass index (the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters) of 29 or higher to a 6-month lifestyle intervention preceding treatment for infertility or to prompt treatment for infertility. The primary outcome was the vaginal birth of a healthy singleton at term within 24 months after randomization.

Effect of diagnosis with a chronic disease on physical activity behavior in middle-aged women.

Objective: Although regular physical activity is an effective secondary prevention strategy for patients with a chronic disease, it is unclear whether patients change their daily physical activity after being diagnosed. Therefore, the aims of this study were to (1) describe changes in levels of physical activity in middle-aged women before and after diagnosis with a chronic disease (heart disease, diabetes, asthma, breast cancer, arthritis, depression); and to (2) examine whether diagnosis with a chronic disease affects levels of physical activity in these women.

Methods: Data from 5 surveys (1998-2010) of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH) were used.

Examining Time Use of Dutch Nursing Staff in Long-Term Institutional Care: A Time-Motion Study.

Objectives: Increasing residents' acuity levels and available resources in long-term institutional care requires insight into the care provided by nursing staff so as to guide task allocation and optimal use of resources, and enhance quality of care. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between time use and type of nursing staff, residents' acuity levels, and unit type by using a standardized nursing intervention classification.

Design: A multicenter cross-sectional observational study was performed using time-motion technique.

Changes in the endurance shuttle walk test in COPD patients with chronic respiratory failure after pulmonary rehabilitation: the minimal important difference obtained with anchor- and distribution-based method.

Background: Although the endurance shuttle walk test (ESWT) has proven to be responsive to change in exercise capacity after pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) for COPD, the minimally important difference (MID) has not yet been established. We aimed to establish the MID of the ESWT in patients with severe COPD and chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure following PR.

Methods: Data were derived from a randomized controlled trial, investigating the value of noninvasive positive pressure ventilation added to PR.

Short- and long-term effects of a physical activity counselling programme in COPD: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: We were interested in the effects of a physical activity (PA) counselling programme in three groups of COPD patients from general practice (primary care), outpatient clinic (secondary care) and pulmonary rehabilitation (PR).

Methods: In this randomized controlled trial 155 COPD patients, 102 males, median (IQR) age 62 (54-69) y, FEV1predicted 60 (40-75) % were assigned to a 12-weeks' physical activity counselling programme or usual care. Physical activity (pedometer (Yamax SW200) and metabolic equivalents), exercise capacity (6-min walking distance) and quality of life (Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire and Clinical COPD Questionnaire) were assessed at baseline, after three and 15 months.

Selecting the increment size for a maximal incremental cycle test in patients with COPD.

Currently, to our knowledge, there are no chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)-specific formulas to predict the maximum workload of an incremental cycle ergometer test. The aim of the study was to investigate different prediction models including COPD-specific variables of maximum workload in 113 mild to very severe COPD patients. This study shows that simple measures like forced expiratory volume in 1 s, chair-stand test and modified Medical Research Council dyspnoea score may improve the accuracy of the predicted maximum workload in COPD patients.

Physical activity recommendations in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: Physical activity recommendations are hardly studied in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and specifically recommendations that are individualized to a patient's aerobic fitness level are not studied.

Objectives: To compare individualized (relative) and nonindividualized (absolute) physical activity recommendations in patients with COPD and to assess whether there are differences between patients with mild to moderate and (very) severe COPD.

Methods: We compared 7 different physical activity recommendations that were described in the literature.

Functional and psychological variables both affect daily physical activity in COPD: a structural equations model.

Background: Daily physical activity (DPA) level is reduced in patients with COPD. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of DPA with functional and psychological variables in these patients.

Methods: 155 COPD patients (102 males, median (IQR) age 62 years (54-69 years), predicted FEV1 60% (40-75%) were included.

Self-efficacy for physical activity and insight into its benefits are modifiable factors associated with physical activity in people with COPD: a mixed-methods study.

Questions: What are the perceived reasons for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to be physically active or sedentary? Are those reasons related to the actual measured level of physical activity?

Design: A mixed-methods study combining qualitative and quantitative approaches.

Participants: People with mild to very severe COPD.

Outcome Measures: Participants underwent a semi-structured interview and physical activity was measured by a triaxial accelerometer worn for one week.

Are grown-ups with congenital heart disease willing to participate in an exercise program?

Objective: To examine the willingness of grown-ups with congenital heart disease (GUCH) to participate in the GUCH Training Program-Individualised (GTI), an exercise program specifically designed for GUCH, and to identify factors affecting their willingness to participate.

Design And Setting: In this cross-sectional study, all outpatient GUCH of the University Medical Center Groningen in The Netherlands, living within a 30-km radius of Groningen (n = 311), were asked to participate.

Patients: In total, 116 (37%) of the 311 GUCH who are invited to participate in our study returned completed questionnaires.

Daily physical activity in stable heart failure patients.

Background: Physical activity is the only nonpharmacological therapy that is proven to be effective in heart failure (HF) patients in reducing morbidity. To date, little is known about the levels of daily physical activity in HF patients and about related factors.

Objective: The objectives of this study were to (a) describe performance-based daily physical activity in HF patients, (b) compare it with physical activity guidelines, and (c) identify related factors of daily physical activity.

Self-reported physical fitness in frail older persons: reliability and validity of the Self-Assessment of Physical Fitness (SAPF).

In very old and/or frail older people living in long-term care facilities, physical inactivity negatively affects activities of daily living. The main reason to assess older adults' perceived fitness is to establish the relation with their beliefs about their ability to perform physical activity adjusted to daily tasks. The Self-Assessment of Physical Fitness scale was developed to address these needs.

Measurement of acute nonspecific low back pain perception in primary care physical therapy: reliability and validity of the brief illness perception questionnaire.

Background: The eight-item Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire is used as a screening instrument in physical therapy to assess mental defeat in patients with acute low back pain, besides patient perception might determine the course and risk for chronic low back pain. However, the psychometric properties of the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire in common musculoskeletal disorders like acute low back pain have not been adequately studied. Patients' perceptions vary across different populations and affect coping styles.

Study protocol: EXERcise and cognition in sedentary adults with early-ONset dementia (EXERCISE-ON).

Background: Although the development of early-onset dementia is a radical and invalidating experience for both patient and family there are hardly any non-pharmacological studies that focus on this group of patients. One type of a non-pharmacological intervention that appears to have a beneficial effect on cognition in older persons without dementia and older persons at risk for dementia is exercise. In view of their younger age early-onset dementia patients may be well able to participate in an exercise program.

Expectations about recovery from acute non-specific low back pain predict absence from usual work due to chronic low back pain: a systematic review.

Question: Do negative expectations in patients after the onset of acute low back pain increase the odds of absence from usual work due to progression to chronic low back pain?

Design: Systematic review with meta-analysis of prospective inception cohort studies.

Participants: Adults with acute or subacute non-specific low back pain.

Outcome Measure: Absence from usual work at a given time point greater than 12 weeks after the onset of pain due to ongoing pain.

The minimal important difference for residual volume in patients with severe emphysema.

Residual volume (RV) measured by body plethysmography is a routine measurement in clinical pulmonary practice and is often an important outcome variable in clinical trials. However, it is not known what size of improvement can be regarded as being important in severe emphysema patients. Therefore, the aim of the study is to establish the minimal important difference (MID) for RV in severe emphysema patients undergoing bronchoscopic lung volume reduction.

Stretching before sleep reduces the frequency and severity of nocturnal leg cramps in older adults: a randomised trial.

Question: In adults who experience nocturnal leg cramps, does stretching of the calf and hamstring muscles each day just before sleep reduce the frequency and severity of the cramps?

Design: A randomised trial with concealed allocation and intention-to-treat analysis.

Participants: Eighty adults aged over 55 years with nocturnal leg cramps who were not being treated with quinine.

Intervention: The experimental group performed stretches of the calf and hamstring muscles nightly, immediately before going to sleep, for six weeks.