Group roles and recruitment
| Group | n | Group roles and recruitment |
| Authorship group | 5 | The authors form a collaboration between the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine (FSEM) and The Physical Activity for Health Research Centre, University of Edinburgh. The authorship group led all phases of this study. |
| Stakeholder group | 4 | External stakeholders from Sport England—health and inactivity, Public Health England—physical activity and healthy weight and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP)—physical activity clinical priority group. The stakeholder group agreed on the remit of the consensus project and reviewed the completed statement. Members of this group were invited to the steering group meeting. This consensus statement will inform the direction of future cross-sector work by these organisations. |
| Practitioner group | 57 | We recruited this group of healthcare professionals through stakeholder organisations, including FSEM, RCGP, Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, Royal College of Nursing and Royal College of Physicians. This group participated in an online survey to help us understand opinions and perspectives from a group of healthcare professionals who do not have a specific clinical interest in physical activity but have the opportunity to discuss physical activity with patients routinely. |
| Patient and public involvement groups | 401 | We incorporated results from two studies exploring service users’ views and experience of physical activity support around risk in healthcare that closely aligned with our objectives. We combined findings from these studies to provide vital insight on how people living with LTCs feel the NHS could better support their physical activity needs.7 14 |
| Steering group | 13 | We recruited multidisciplinary healthcare professionals with extensive clinical and/or academical experience in using physical activity to manage LTCs through professional contacts of the authorship and stakeholder groups. This group reviewed results from the literature review and preparation phases and met with the authorship group at a face-to-face meeting in November 2019 to agree on the approach and direction of the study. |
| Delphi group | 29 | Recruitment for the modified Delphi study aimed to generate a heterogeneous group of professionals covering a broad range of professional groups and clinical disciplines to ensure diversity in opinion and expertise. Following introductions from professional organisations and clinical networks, we recruited experts by direct invitation. We used the delphi group to test and develop the structure and content of the statements. For this modified delphi, requiring in-depth feedback and continuity from a range of specialist areas, we set a minimum of 20 participants. |
LTCs, long-term conditions; NHS, National Health Service.