Improving physical activity during hospital stay Towards bridging the research-practice gap

Although the relationship between physical activity during hospital stay and positive health outcomes is well-documented, recent studies continue to report very low in-hospital physical activity levels and the bed remains to be a centerpiece in routine hospital care. There is therefore a discrepancy between what is known from the literature and what actually happens in a hospital. To bridge this gap, this thesis aims to expand knowledge on how to improve physical activity in hospitalized patients.
- In part I of this thesis, we explored and provide evidence for two easy-to-implement methods to identify physically inactive patients during routine hospital care: systematically assessing the factors associated with physical inactivity and systematically assessing the level of mobilization (i.e., what a patient has actually done).
- In part II, we explored why patients are physically inactive during hospital stay. We provide a comprehensive, theory-informed overview of all published barriers and enablers to physical activity during hospital stay. Additionally, we present the healthcare professionals’ perspectives on key barriers to improving physical activity in hospitalized patients, and on solutions to overcome these key barriers.
- In part III, we described the development, implementation and evaluation of a theory-informed, multifaceted intervention to improve physical activity in patients admitted to a tertiary hospital in the Netherlands. Although significant improvements in physical activity and secondary outcomes were not observed, the process evaluation yielded valuable information that may improve the effectiveness of implementing multifaceted interventions aiming to improve in-hospital physical activity in another context or setting.