Purpose: Physical inactivity is a global health concern. Physical activity (PA) counselling is an effective intervention for promoting PA in primary health care (PHC) settings. The use of electronic health (eHealth) technology has the potential to support PA counselling. This study aimed to explore PHC providers' perspectives on the development of an eHealth tool to aid PA counselling in the resource-limited settings. Methods: This qualitative study employed interpretive phenomenology. The study was conducted at hospital-based PHC clinics among physicians and registered nurses. Data collection involved in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs). An inductive thematic approach was used to analyze the data. Results: Three physicians participated in three IDIs and 12 nurses participated in four FGDs at three hospitals. The median age of the participants was 43 years. Participants saw 15-100 patients/day (median 40) and spent 2-20 min with each patient (median 5). Three themes emerged. Theme 1: requirements for PA counselling: the participants reflected the needs and characteristics of eHealth tool that may support PA counselling. Theme 2: enabling an eHealth tool for PA counselling: the eHealth should be easy to use, provide PA prescription function, and support follow-up PA counselling. Theme 3: reducing barriers to PA counselling: the eHealth tool was expected to help reduce service and workforce barriers and patients' limitations. Conclusion: A well-designed and practical eHealth tool has the potential to improve PA counselling practice in PHC settings. The eHealth tool may affect an indirect mechanism to reduce barriers to PA counselling. Future research should focus on the usability and utility as well as the process evaluation of the PA counselling eHealth tool that will be implemented in resource-limited settings.

ObjectivesTo identify the essential content and approaches for developing a training programme in physical activity (PA) counselling for undergraduate medical curricula.DesignA three-round Delphi survey was conducted to investigate four key topics: (1) contents of PA counselling in medical education; (2) teaching and learning methods; (3) medical school collaboration and (4) educational policy implementation. Round 1 collected opinions from the participants. Round 2 focused on scoring the opinions. Round 3 summarised the expert opinions. A mean score of 4 or above identified as an important item.SettingAll 23 medical schools in Thailand.ParticipantsAcademic staff who were experts or in charge of medical schools in the fields of PA, health promotion or medical education.ResultsA total of 20 representatives from 18 of the 23 Thai medical schools participated in the study (for a response rate of 78.2%). The top three most important indicators of knowledge were (1) the definition and types of PA (4.75±0.55), (2) the FITT principle (frequency, intensity, time and type) (4.75±0.55) and (3) the benefits of PA (4.65±0.67). The most important component of the training involved general communication skills (4.55±0.60). An extracurricular module (4.05±0.76) was preferable to an intracurricular module (3.95±0.94). Collaborations with medical education centres and teaching hospitals (4.45±0.78) and supporting policies to increase medical students’ PA (4.40±0.73) were considered to be important.ConclusionKnowledge and counselling skills are important for PA counselling. Building collaborations between medical education and health institutions, as well as implementing effective educational policies, are key approaches to the integration of PA counselling into medical education. Future research should focus on investigating the effects of training in PA counselling on the learning outcomes of medical students and the clinical outcomes of patients.

BackgroundData systems for surveillance and monitoring are essential to develop understanding of the levels of physical activity (PA) occurring at the population levels. To comprehensively understand PA in medical schools, a suitable surveillance tool might be useful to present and monitor key PA-related metrics. This study investigated PA-related metrics in a Thai medical school and summarised the findings using a newly developed tool-the Medical School Physical Activity Report Card (MSPARC).MethodsA mixed methods study was carried out at three campuses of a medical school in Southern Thailand. Data analysis included descriptive statistics and qualitative reviews. All 285 medical students from a medical school were the target population. The prevalence of PA (≥ 150 min/week of moderate- to vigorous-intensity PA) and sedentary behaviours (SB) (≥ 8 h/day of sedentary time) among medical students were analysed using data from a self-administered questionnaire. Usage patterns, quality, and accessibility of walkable neighbourhoods; bicycle facilities; and recreational areas were assessed. PA promotion programmes, education, and investment related to PA promotion were reviewed from the school documents.ResultsOf 279 participants, 138 (49.5%) met PA recommendation, but 71.7% met criteria for SB. Male students were more active (61.8 vs. 42.4%) and less sedentary (65.7 vs. 75.1%) than female students. Bicycle facilities were rated as having the lowest quality and accessibility among PA-related facilities. Most PA promotion programmes were sports clubs and sport competitions. A total of 25 h of PA education was taught throughout the entire curriculum, which provided minimal PA counselling training. The school invested 2136.14 Baht/student/year (US $64.34) in PA promotion, or 2.4% of the annual tuition. The MSPARC presented the summary of the findings by using simple symbols, infographics, and short texts.ConclusionsTo increase PA and decrease SB among medical students, there is a need to improve the quality and accessibility of the built environment as well as the natural environment, so as to establish health promoting policies. PA counselling training is required to develop the medical students’ essential skills and awareness for future practices. Monitoring and subsequent surveillance of PA in medical school are needed.

IntroductionPhysical activity (PA) is important in promoting health, as well as in the treatment and prevention of diseases. However, insufficient PA is still a global health problem and it is also a problem in medical schools. PA training in medical curricula is still sparse or non-existent. There is a need for a comprehensive understanding of the extent of PA in medical schools through several indicators, including people, places and policies. This study includes a survey of the PA prevalence in a medical school and development of a tool, the Medical School Physical Activity Report Card (MSPARC), which will contain concise and understandable infographics and information for exploring, monitoring and reporting information relating to PA prevalence.Methods and analysisThis mixed methods study will run from January to September 2017. We will involve the School of Medicine, Walailak University, Thailand, and its medical students (n=285). Data collection will consist of both primary and secondary data, divided into four parts: general information, people, places and policies. We will investigate the PA metrics about (1) people: the prevalence of PA and sedentary behaviours; (2) place: the quality and accessibility of walkable neighbourhoods, bicycle facilities and recreational areas; and (3) policy: PA promotion programmes for medical students, education metrics and investments related to PA. The MSPARC will be developed using simple symbols, infographics and short texts to evaluate the PA metrics of the medical school.Ethics and disseminationThis study has been approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of Walailak University (protocol number: WUEC-16-005-01). Findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at national or international conferences. The MSPARC and full report will be disseminated to relevant stakeholders, policymakers, staff and clients.

A fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) device has been developed for the evaluation of clinical control in asthmatic patients, instead of for uses in only analyzing clinical data and spirometry. The implementation of the FeNO device in daily practice has demonstrated both positive and negative results. Community hospital settings in Thailand have never used this method for the evaluation of disease control in asthmatics. The aim of this study was to assess the correlation between FeNO levels and asthma control, as determined by physicians. We recruited asthmatic patients aged from 4-15-years-old (after informed consent approval was obtained from their guardians) from May 15, 2018, to July 20, 2019. All of the patients had already been diagnosed as having asthma by physicians and had been prescribed inhaled corticosteroid medications. After routine visits, skin prick tests with 8 aeroallergens were performed. If a positive result was shown for at least 1 allergen, then the FeNO device was applied for the assessment of the level of inflammation. Data were analyzed by using SPSS Statistics version 21.0. Agreement index and Kruskal Wallis tests were used to measure the correlations. From 178 asthmatic patients, the mean age was 94.9 AE 36.75 months, and 59% of them were male. The educational levels of the guardians of the patients mostly consisted of primary school, and the household income was less than 333 US dollars per month. Inhaled corticosteroids were prescribed among the patients for disease control. The correlation between the FeNO level and the control level demonstrated a high agreement (accuracy index: 91.57%). The medians of the mean wheal diameters of Dermatophagoids pteronyssinus, Dermatophagoids farinae and Cladosporium spp. were significantly related to the FeNO level (with p-values of 0.024, 0.003 and 0.045, respectively). Conversely, a number of positive skin responses to aeroallergens were not related with the FeNO level. In conclusion, a lower level of FeNO correlates with good asthma control level in pediatric allergic asthma. The medians of the mean wheal diameters of Dermatophagoids pteronyssinus, Dermatophagoids farinae and Cladosporium spp. correlated with higher FeNO levels. A device assessing FeNO seems beneficial for evaluating the level of disease control among childhood asthmatic patients in a primary care setting.