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Purpose: Contemporary multidisciplinary rehabilitation programs include the promotion of physical activity as a central goal. Exercise therapy is an essential element in rehabilitation programs working towards this goal. However, little is known about the role of physical activity promotion in exercise therapy practice in rehabilitation settings. The aim is to identify typical exercise therapy concepts in rehabilitation programs regarding the role of physical activity promotion. Further, we want to assess the representation of physical activity promotion among exercise therapy departments across Germany and in relation to different diagnostic categories. Methods: Heads of 713 exercise therapy departments participated in a nationwide questionnaire-based survey collecting information on therapy goals, contents, and methods. Participating facilities treated health conditions in the areas of cardiology, orthopedics, neurology, oncology, psychosomatics and addiction. We applied factor analyses to identify behavior-oriented goals, contents and methods of exercise therapy concepts and used latent class analyses to categorize typical exercise therapy concepts. Results: Six typical exercise therapy concepts were identified. Two of the classes (together 45% of the departments) emphasized physical activity promotion and used related methods. Other concepts focused primarily on physical functioning and exercise or focused on psychosocial goals and positive experiences with physical activity. Typical exercise therapy concepts are only partially determined by the type of health condition. Conclusions: The dissemination of content and methods for a substantial physical activity promotion in exercise therapy, has so far partly taken place in Germany. The results imply that the different status quo in rehabilitation facilities have to be considered to foster the knowledge exchange between science and practice.Implications for rehabilitationThe results on typical exercise therapy concepts give a structured overview of different priorities with regard to aims, content, and methods of exercise therapy in the light of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health.The study reveals that the dissemination of theoretically sound, evidence-based concepts for physical activity promotion has reached a half of the institutions in German rehabilitation settings. This national example generally suggests that there is a need for an increased exchange of knowledge between science and practice related to exercise therapy in rehabilitation settings.The results enable practitioners to reflect on their exercise therapy concepts with respect to contemporary exercise therapy concepts that integrate physical activity promotion appropriately.Stakeholders and rehabilitation professionals can use the results to design strategies for quality development, taking into account the different status quo of therapy concepts in the "real world" of rehabilitation practice.The results of the survey provide the basis for a scientifically-based comparison of exercise therapy across countries and health care systems.

Background: The promotion of a physically active lifestyle has become an important issue in exercise therapy. Exercise-only interventions are frequently used for the rehabilitation of individuals with chronic diseases. These do indeed improve functional and physical performance, but they are not alone sufficient to initiate long lasting changes in physical-activity behaviour. Behaviour-related aspects are rarely integrated into exercise-therapy interventions., Objective: Based on theories of health behaviour change, effective techniques for changing physical-activity behaviour in the context of exercise therapy will be identified., Methodology: The starting point is a theory-driven definition of individual behavioural determinants of physical activity and the identification of techniques for influencing the determinants. Subsequently, the potential of the techniques for enhancing physical activity is evaluated. The available evidence was reviewed on the basis of international reviews and control-group studies from the German rehabilitation setting. Finally, recommendations are offered for designing exercise-based interventions to promote participation in and adherence to physical activity., Results: A total of 28 techniques for the promotion of physical activity behaviour were identified. An approach that proved particularly effective was self-monitoring of physical activity behaviour in a variety of combinations with other techniques, such as contracting, feedback, rewards, generating one's own varied exercise experience, action planning and barrier management., Discussion: The integration of behaviour-related techniques in the context of exercise therapy interventions shows great promise as a means of initiating and promoting a physically active lifestyle., (© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)

Exercise therapy constitutes the better part of rehabilitative treatment. However, in rehabilitation research the scientific analysis of exercise therapy only plays a minor role. Taking the theoretical model of rehabilitation and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) into account, we propose a heuristic model of aims and effects of exercise therapy and define a system of methodological target setting. This system offers a background for an expanded scientific discussion about biopsychosocial determinants and effects of exercise therapy as well as quality development and the evaluation of exercise treatment concepts within and across indications in the context of multimodal medical rehabilitation., (Copyright Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart New York.)