Due to Covid-19 outbreak a third and a final EUPAP training in the core components of the Swedish physical activity on prescription method (PAP-S)  was held online. There were 25 participants from nine EU countries attending this digital course – Denmark, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, Malta, Belgium, and Spain. Digital sessions were held on 28-29th September, 7th of October and the last follow-up session is still to be organized on the 10th of December.

The course content included:

• Background on the evidence for associations between physical activity and health in the population
• Introducing basic concept of PAP-S and how the method is used in primary health care and at hospital level
• Implementation of PAP - tools and processes
• Case studies on practical prescription of physical activity and many more.

Upon completion of this course followed by a follow-up session in December, our participants will receive a certificate that they have participated in the course. Also, you can find all the course material including course curriculum and presentation on PAP method on our website. 

EUPAP Partners' activities in 2020

Germany - As part of the local implementation, Germany has already started offering training in the EUPAP method to physicians. One course took place in Frankfurt, Germany with participating physicians in training for the specialty "general medicine". These participants do not typically have extensive previous experience in physical activity counseling, however, since they are at the beginning of their career this target population seems to be very interested. 

Another training was offered for physicians aiming at the sub-specialty “Sports Medicine”. These physicians are typically knowledgeable about physical activity impact on health in general. Both trainings offered more specific insights into the EUPAP project, its methods and achievements of the PAP-S scheme. Almost 100 physicians were reached during these trainings.

Denmark - During spring time Denmark had to cancel all EUPAP activities and pause the implementation process due to the COVID-19 situation. Therefore, they focussed on finishing the feasibility study in the period from March to May 2020. In June they renewed some of their previous activities. One of them was a trial period with prescribing PAP to their target group (mentally vulnerably patients) in Emergency Department. The trial period started around November 2019 and was paused in March 2020. 

In June, however it was renewed again and included the final patients before a final evaluation of the trial period in August. After evaluation it was decided to discontinue recruiting patients from an Emergency department due to a big dropout of patients in the transition from the Emergency Department and the follow up by a PAP coach. Denmark's team is now organizing meetings with clinics at the hospital to get them familiarized with our implementations tools e.g. the prescription form, handbook with recommendation and evidence of physical activity etc.

Romania - During spring and summer 2020 Romania carried out various PAP-S promotion activities on social media within a Facebook group that was created by a general practitioner involved in the implementation process. The group consists of patients of GP and health professionals. The group topics includes videos with home workout exercises, information’s about the benefits of the Physical activity, the use of pedometer and accelerometer and the PA Swedish model.

Italy - During the last months Italy carried out one training session and two meetings with healthcare providers. These activities were an opportunity to present the EUPAP initiative, components of the Swedish PAP method and its effectiveness. The training took place in the Department of Prevention of Treviso on the 11th of June and the participants were the 5 physicians (cardiologists, sports doctors) of the Center for Sports Medicine and Exercise Prescription.

On the 7th of July, they had an online conference with the resident physicians, who attend the Sport and Exercise Medicine Division of the University of Padova. On the 10th of September, team met the general practitioners of the integrated primary healthcare team of Ponzano Veneto.

Belgium:

 - Meetings with local Health Consult partners: There are 15 Local Health Consults spread amongst the Flemish region. Their main task is to implement regional healthcare rules and projects, such as (EU)PAP, on the local level via a local network. The Local Health Consult partners have been invited in June for a meeting about (EU)PAP in their region (2 times a year). Due to the CoVid-19 measurements, the meeting was organized via a video conference call.

 - Flemish (EU)PAP Steering Group Meeting: 3 times a year, a Flemish PAP Steering Group Meeting is held. In June, the members of the Flemish (EU)PAP Steering Group have met via  video conference call. Amongst the members are representatives of Domus Medica (regional representative organization for GP's), the Flemish Agency for Care and Health and many other healthcare and wellbeing associations/organizations. 

 - 3 days training course for new (EU)PAP-coaches: During August and September, the Flemish Institute of Healthy Living has organized another 3 days training course for new (EU)PAP-coaches. During this training insights about (EU)PAP were provided, the use of (EU)PAP-tools and software was explained, as well as theory and practice of motivational interviewing and the self-determination theory were organized. After this training course, 8 (EU)PAP-coaches were ready to start (EU)PAP in their region!

THE OPENING OF NEW EUPAP OFFICE IN LITHUANIA

Due to a second wave of Covid-19 and a quarantine in Lithuania the opening of the 1st EUPAP partners' office was postponed. However, everything is set up for patients' consultation and a doctor-nutritionist, who is also a certified EUPAP coach, will be working in this office. Also, in order to ease the transfer and involvement of patients into EUPAP programme, IT technologies were used. For example, from now on it will be visible next to each patient's name in the database system whether he expressed an interest for participation in this programme to his GP or another specialist. Also, whether he has been contacted and a visit was arranged. We believe that this tool will help us to include more healthcare specialists into the process, who could send a patient for an EUPAP consultation. 

These services will be offered in a public healthcare institution "Centro poliklinika" located in Vilnius.