Measure It!
A very brief intervention for physical activity behaviour change in cardiac rehabilitation
Low levels of physical activity are associated with an increased risk of repeat cardiac events in people with coronary heart disease, Australia’s biggest killer. Increasing physical activity levels following a cardiac event, regardless of previous activity levels, has been shown to significantly reduce a person’s risk of dying. While physical activity has an important role to play in addressing premature mortality in people with heart disease, there is a significant gap between recommended and actual physical activity levels in this cohort.
Preliminary work by the research team, led by Associate Professor Nicole Freene, has found that regular physical activity measurement by health professionals alone can drive physical activity adherence in insufficiently active adults. Awarded funding under the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Cardiovascular Health Mission Scheme, The Measure It! Trial is currently underway. The trial will recruit 190 insufficiently active cardiac rehabilitation attendees from five cardiac rehabilitation programs in the ACT and NSW. Currently, 136 participants have been recruited.
The Measure It! Trial aims to investigate the effectiveness of a very brief (less than five minute) physical intervention delivered by cardiac rehabilitation clinicians on physical activity levels in people with heart disease attending cardiac rehabilitation. The intervention includes a self-report and objective measure of physical activity (wearable activity tracker steps) plus physical activity advice. The trial will also evaluate the implementation of the intervention into clinical practice.
While data collection and analysis are still underway, early feedback from cardiac rehabilitation clinician’s delivering the intervention is positive:
‘… the five-minute intervention was quite useful to have…and I think having access to a structured, evidence-based argument can help as well… for those patients who might be prone to falling off the wagon, I think if someone is there asking them (about their physical activity) they’re going to realise it’s important’.
Cardiac rehabilitation participants in the study have also found the intervention useful:
‘… it helped because I know someone was there looking over what I do… checking whether I’m on the right track or not… so it helped, yes, definitely’.
The Measure It! Trial will conclude at the end of 2024. Findings from this trial will inform future health service delivery, potentially leading to a highly scalable, low cost, efficient and effective intervention to increase cardiac rehabilitation attendees’ physical activity levels.
The Team
- Assoc Prof Nicole Freene, University of Canberra
- Jessica Seymour, University of Canberra
- Prof Rachel Davey, University of Canberra
- Prof Steven McPhail, Queensland University of Technology
- Prof Robyn Gallagher, University of Sydney
- Dr Breanne Kunstler, Monash University
- Dr Zephanie Tyack, Queensland University of Technology
- Prof Walter Abhayaratna, Australian National University
- Assoc Prof Richard Keegan, University of Canberra
- Assoc Prof Theophile Niyonsenga, University of Canberra
- Dr Christian Verdicchio, University of Sydney
