Grant: Project Grant

Inactive lifestyles have a huge cost - to Canadians' health, our healthcare system and our economy. If only 10% of Canadian adults were more active, we would reduce 25-year healthcare costs by $2.6 billion, add $7.5 billion to our economy and decrease disease in > 550,000 Canadians. 90% of Canadian children are not active enough for optimal health & children with heart conditions are even less active. We will measure the IMPACT of building physical activity promotion (PA) into doctor visits. We will initially test this new type of doctor visit with children with congenital heart disease (CHD) because CHD is very common (1 in 100 children) and it greatly increases the risk for diseases of a sedentary lifestyle. Heart surgeries in infancy make these children more likely to have heart attacks as young adults. They are also more likely to live with anxiety or depression. We will IMPACT children's health through our: Innovative use of PA to improve quality of life and prevent future disease; Measurement of project impact on children and healthcare clinics; Patient-empowering, ready-to-use "PA tool kit" resources for doctors; Appropriate focus on children's long-term health and quality of life; Collaborative approach using children/families, doctors & nurses as experts; Transformative model of care for all doctors caring for Canadian children. Doctors and nurses will learn to promote active lifestyles to CHD patients using our PA tool kit (Nov. 2017). We will measure children's PA (steps per day) during their CHD clinic visit, and each month for 6 months. Children will be randomly assigned to a regular clinic visit or a clinic visit with the PA tool kit of resources. Comparing children who do/do not receive extra PA counselling will tell us if the "tool kit" helps children with heart problems to be more active, giving them access to the physical and mental health benefits of PA. We will also measure this practice change impact on patient clinic time & PA phone calls.