[Physiotherapeutic physical activity counselling in hospitals - A qualitative interview study of physical therapists' perspectives on their role as health advocates].

Authors

Lena Frenz, Ina Lesmann, Annalena Paus, Isabelle Stickdorn

Published in

Zeitschrift fur Evidenz, Fortbildung und Qualitat im Gesundheitswesen. Sep 22, 2026. Epub Sep 22, 2026.

Abstract

Physical activity counselling may be an effective approach to counteract physical inactivity among hospitalized patients. However, it remains unclear whether and to what extent physiotherapists provide such counselling as part of their role as health advocates in a hospital setting. Therefore, this study aimed to explore physiotherapists' perspectives on their role as health advocates in acute care.
Semi-structured interviews with nine physiotherapists in a German university hospital were conducted and analysed using structured qualitative content analysis according to Kuckartz.
Participants' perspectives on their role as health advocates were shaped by various individual and contextual factors, which can be categorized along the domains of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. These include personal attitudes and competencies, characteristics of the acute care setting, and organizational conditions.
The findings reveal a tension between function-oriented acute care and a health-promoting approach, with physical activity promotion often remaining secondary and opportunities for sustainable behaviour change being underutilized. In addition, the applicability of international health advocate role profiles to the German healthcare system should be considered with caution.
The results indicate that physiotherapists partly assume the health advocate role in acute care, but it often remains implicit and is limited by a lack of structural support. This study provides starting points for a targeted promotion of this role through training, concept development, and stronger organizational integration, which could help address physical inactivity in hospitals more effectively in the future.

PMID:
42773022
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 23 Sep 2026.

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