136 Link workers promoting physical activity - who are they linking?
Megan O’Grady, Emer Barrett, Deirdre Connolly

TL;DR
Link workers help older adults with health issues participate in physical activity, and this study explores who benefits most from their support.
Contribution
The study identifies barriers to physical activity among link worker clients and compares characteristics between two types of services.
Findings
Service users are often mid- to older-aged adults with physical and mental health issues.
Participants had low physical activity levels and moderate self-efficacy for exercise.
Differences in characteristics were observed between LSPO and SPLW groups.
Abstract
Improvements in health and wellbeing can be achieved in individuals who are connected to community and voluntary services though link workers (LW). There is emerging evidence of their potential role in promoting local, community-based physical activity (local PA). More research is needed to understand the characteristics of individuals who attend this intervention, including health and demographic information. This abstract presents results from two studies. In Study 1, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 Irish LW, including local sports partnership officers (LSPO) and social prescribing link workers (SPLW), to describe the profile of their service users. Study 2 (currently ongoing) is a mixed-methods pilot feasibility study. Demographic, PA (International Physical Activity Questionnaire - Short Form, Self-Efficacy for Exercise Scale) and health-related data (Short…
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Taxonomy
TopicsSchool Health and Nursing Education · Health Promotion and Cardiovascular Prevention · Physical Activity and Health
