The effect of exercise referral schemes and self-management strategies on use of prescription analgesics among community-dwelling older adults: registry linkage with randomised controlled trials.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Exercise referral schemes and self-management strategies have shown positive effects on patient-reported and objectively measured outcomes, such as increased functional capacity and physical activity level. However, the impact of these interventions on analgesic use remains uncertain. We hypothesised that exercise referral schemes, either utilised alone or in combination with self-management strategies, is more effective in reducing use of prescription analgesics compared with a self-management strategy only. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We utilised data from two completed randomised controlled trials, namely The Welfare Innovation in Primary Prevention (n = 121) and The SITLESS project (n = 338), and information from the national Danish health registries, including the National Prescription Registry. The two trials have investigated the effectiveness of interventions, which include exercise referral schemes and self-management strategies, on various aspects such as physical function and levels of physical activity among community-dwelling older adults. The studies were conducted in the period 2015-2020 and comprised older adults aged 65+ years, living in three different Danish municipalities. Participants were recruited through nationally regulated preventive home-visits. To estimate changes in use of prescription analgesics over time, a linear fixed effects regression model was applied. The outcome measure was the mean total yearly defined daily dose of analgesics. RESULTS: All intervention groups showed a within-group increase in overall analgesic use, though not statistically significantly different from zero. There were no differences in estimated changes in mean total yearly defined daily dose when comparing the intervention groups to the group receiving the least extensive intervention (self-management strategies/control). The findings indicated that exercise referral schemes and self-management strategies, whether administrated individually or in combination, did not result in a reduction in analgesic use over time.

Measuring Spiritual Needs in a Secular Society: Validation and Clinimetric Properties of the Danish 20-Item Spiritual Needs Questionnaire.

In secular cultures, such as Denmark, tools to measure spiritual needs are warranted to guide existential and spiritual care. We examined the clinimetric properties of the Danish version of the Spiritual Needs Questionnaire (DA-SpNQ-20) based on a digital survey in a test-retest setup. A convenience sample was reached via social media and student platforms. A total of 325 (148 for retest) respondents were included in the analysis. The sample was randomly split into two groups (A and B) and used for exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) by structural equation modeling, respectively. SpNQ dimensions had an internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha between 0.73 and 0.93. The four factors of the SpNQ were supported by both EFA and CFA as follows: religious needs, existential needs, inner peace needs, and generativity needs. The instrument showed good internal consistency, good test-retest reliability, and acceptable structural validity in the sample of relatively young and healthy persons.

The association between childhood motor performance and developmental trajectories of sport participation over 5 years in Danish students aged 6-16-year-old.

Sports participation has potential to promote physical activity in youth. Unfortunately, sports participation and physical activity may decline from childhood to adolescence and into adulthood. Globally, only 20% of 13-15-year-olds meet the World Health Organisation recommendations for physical activity. This study aimed to investigate the 5-year trajectories of sports participation and their association with baseline motor performance in Danish school children as part of the Childhood Health Activity and Motor Performance School Study-Denmark (CHAMPS-DK), a school-based physical activity intervention study which investigated the health benefits of increased physical education lessons. Five distinct trajectories were identified, with group 1 maintained a stable trajectory of little to no sports participation, and group 2 showing a low decreasing trend. Group 3-5, the most sports active, demonstrated increasing sport participation at different rates. Baseline motor performance score was associated with the two most active sports participation groups. Students who were more physically active during school hours participated less in organised leisure time sports. This suggest focusing on improving motor performance in youth may support future sports participation and thus health-related physical activity. But also, that it might be necessary to engage and maintain children and adolescents in leisure time sports while implementing physical activity promotion interventions.