Knowledge and Practices of the Prescription of Physical and Sports Activities (PSA) by Doctors in Ouagadougou: A Mixed-Method Exploratory Approach

Introduction: The benefits of physical activity (PA) in improving the quality of life of people with chronic diseases have led some countries to include the prescription of PA in their public health code. In Burkina Faso, public health documents do not contain any information about prescribing PA, even though some doctors claim to prescribe physical activity.

Objective: To analyse the medical doctors’ knowledge and practices of the prescription of PSA in Ouagadougou city

Methods: A mixed-method exploratory study, data were collected using an online Google Forms survey of 135 doctors in 03 health districts in Ouagadougou city, and interviews with 23 doctors to February to June 2023. Quantitative data were processed using Epi-Info software, and qualitative data using the content analysis method. Test significance was set at p<0.05.

Results: Based on 48 specialists and 87 general practitioners, the results revealed that 97.04% of participants were aware of the importance of PSA for health, and 91.11% said they are used to prescribing PSA to their patients. As for the prescription protocol, only 22.22% claimed they mastered it.

A significant relationship emerged between seniority and PSA prescription (p<0.02). Qualitative analysis reinforced these results in that the vast majority of interviewees claimed that they knew PSAs and used to prescribe them to their patients without any prescription protocol.

Discussion and Conclusion: These results reveal that all participants have sufficient information on the importance of PSA for health. However, they do more to raise awareness than to prescribe, because prescription protocols are not applied. It also emerged that seniority was linked to PSA prescription. This could be explained by the fact that PSA as a means of preventing NCDs is a concept that emerged with modernity and therefore rhymes with youth. Even if young doctors claim to prescribe PSA, it should be noted that this idea does not adequately reflect the reality of the prescription protocol. In light of these results, information/training strategies on PSA prescription protocols should be developed.