Effectiveness of the 5A Counseling Model-Based Interventions on Physical Activity Indicators in Adults: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: To identify and appraise the effectiveness of the 5A-counseling-model-based interventions on indicators of physical activity in adults.

Methods: A systematic review was conducted from systematic searches in Embase, Lilacs, Pubmed, Scielo, Scopus, Sportdiscus and Web of Science, involving studies published from its inception until May 2022. To avoid potential losses, searches also were made in Google Scholar and in reference lists. The assessment of studies, data extraction, and synthesis were carried out independently by two researchers.

Results: Four studies composed the synthesis, which involved people with an average age between 40 and 55 years, most of the samples being women. It was observed that counseling was carried out in conjunction with other strategies, such as drawing up an action plan, sending text messages, and offering educational material. Only one study showed a statistically significant difference between the intervention and control groups in the "daily number of steps" indicator.

Conclusions: Based on available studies, 5A-counseling-model-based interventions did not reflect significant findings in relation to physical activity. However, given the potential of the model, future studies are recommended with a better description of the strategies, as well as a more robust methodology, to strengthen the evidence.

Keywords: 5A; counseling; physical activity; primary health care.

Figure 1

Flowchart of systematic review.

Figure 2

Risk of bias assessment of included studies (n = 4).