The constantly ongoing changes in the world around us affects the EUPAP project in different ways in our partnership countries. As the project is coming to an end, various reports are compiled to recap the successes and challenges. Among other topics, you can read about the final conference for the EUPAP project in Stockholm 2023 in this newsletter. We also present an interview with the GUF-Team in Germany about the EUPAP project from a German perspective. The COVID-19 pandemic proved to be a challenge for the project in Catalonia. In this newsletter you can read more about the implementation in Catalonia as well as in Romania.

In addition, the newsletter contains a report from a workshop with invited experts, including a panel discussion on promotion of physical activity in prevention and physical activity on prescription (PAP).

As the saying goes - "all good things must come to an end".

Physicians should prescribe more exercise

Report from a workshop with invited experts including a panel discussion on promotion of physical activity in prevention and physical activity on prescription (PAP). The workshop took place in Germany in June with representatives from several professional fields. Even though PAP in general can be considered as being a positive and feasible activity, there are some obstacles to consider before the method can be fully implemented. Collaboration seems to be the key to success. Read more here.

The Catalonian approach to EUPAP implementation

For Catalonia, the main reason to join the EUPAP Project was to bridge the gap between theory and practice. The Catalonian team have formed a network of several stakeholders within Catalonia and there is an ongoing cooperation with Spanish stakeholders as well. The COVID-19 pandemic proved to be a challenge for the project in Catalonia especially as the EUPAP- coaches served as COVID-trackers at the beginning of the first wave. The Catalonian version of physical activity on prescription (PAP), EUPAP-Cat, is under implementation in eight healthcare settings in four different cities at present. The EUPAP-Cat have produced material for individual counseling as well as for the general population. Read a full article here.

German team interviewed about EUPAP

Interview of the GUF-Team in Germany with Prof. Axel Schaefer, who works at the Faculty of Social Work and Health, University of Applied Science and Art (HAWK) in Hildesheim, Germany. Prof. Schaefer’s main research is in Physiotherapy, in particular focusing on the areas of Musculoskeletal Health, Chronic Pain, eHealth and Movement Analysis. Read a full article here.

EUPAP Implementation from a Romanian Perspective

As a country with a high number of persons/individuals with non-communicable diseases, Romania joined the EUPAP project to find out if physical activity on prescription could be proven useful for them.

At a national level, the National Institute of Public Health of Romania had the main responsibility for the project and at a regional level, different actors were involved, among them, the Regional Centre of Public Health. General practitioners from the two cities of Sibiu and Arad received training to become prescribers in the EUPAP project. Read a full article here.

EUPAP Final Conference (14 February 2023)

The EUPAP project will organize a conference on February 14, 2023 to share results and experiences from the project, a European collaboration project implementing the Swedish method for physical activity on prescription in eight European countries.

This is an opportunity to take part and discuss experiences, obstacles and enabling factors from the use of the PAP-method in different contexts.

The conference is digital.

For more information about the conference and registration, please read here.