Journal article
Psychologists' physical activity promotion practices, barriers and facilitators: a scoping review
Health Psychology Review, Vol.Advanced access
05-Sep-2026
PMID: 42700365
Abstract
Strong evidence supports the integration of physical activity (PA) promotion in psychotherapy. As mental healthcare practitioners with expertise in behaviour change, psychologists are well-placed to promote PA as an adjunctive psychological intervention. This scoping review aimed to systematically synthesise evidence on psychologists' PA promotion practices, including their knowledge, confidence and past training on promoting PA. This scoping review mapped psychologists' barriers and facilitators to the 14 domains of the Theoretical Domains Framework. Systematic searches were conducted, with 11 studies meeting the inclusion criteria. Among the studies measuring the frequency of psychologists' PA promotion (n = 9), most (67%) reported that >50% of psychologists promote PA with clients. Studies reporting on psychologists' PA promotion training experiences (n=4) found that almost two-thirds of psychologists have not received any formal training in PA promotion. The domains most identified as barriers to PA promotion were 'social influences' and 'skills', whilst the domains most identified as facilitators to PA promotion were 'beliefs about consequences' and 'beliefs about capabilities'. Given that PA promotion in psychotherapy is an effective intervention, but psychologists lack formal training in this area, tailored training may benefit psychologists' capabilities and clinical practice to promote PA safely and effectively.
Details
- Title
- Psychologists' physical activity promotion practices, barriers and facilitators: a scoping review
- Authors
- Indi Dissanayake (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine CoastRegan Lamble - University of Technology SydneyPrudence L Wall - University of the Sunshine CoastDaniel B Fassnacht - University of the Sunshine CoastKathina Ali - University of the Sunshine CoastKristin L Szuhany - New York UniversityRhiannon Lee White - Western Sydney UniversityGuy Faulkner - University of British ColumbiaSimon Rosenbaum - UNSW SydneyBrendon Stubbs - Medical University of ViennaRachael L Home - University of the Sunshine CoastOscar Lederman - University of Technology Sydney
- Publication details
- Health Psychology Review, Vol.Advanced access
- Publisher
- Routledge
- DOI
- 10.1080/17437199.2026.2726379
- ISSN
- 1743-7202
- PMID
- 42700365
- Copyright note
- © 2026 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
- Grant note
- Dr. Szuhany receives funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation and is an Associate Editor of Mental Health and Physical Activity. BS is supported by an NIHR Advanced Fellowship (NIHR301206).
- Organisation Unit
- Healthy Ageing Research Cluster; School of Health - Psychology
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991255352902621
- Output Type
- Journal article
Metrics
1 Record Views