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Cross Sectoral Support for Accredited Education of Physical Activity Professionals in working with People with Chronic Conditions

Published: June 25, 2024
Pihoto of the SETU Research Team along with representatives of the PACC Core Stakeholder Group and Louise Burke, Director of Participation, Sport Ireland

The SETU Research Team along with representatives of the PACC Core Stakeholder Group and Louise Burke, Director of Participation, Sport Ireland.

Cross Sectoral Support for Accredited Education of Physical Activity Professionals in working with People with Chronic Conditions

On May 21st, just under 100 individuals from health, physical activity, higher education and patient advocacy sectors came together at a symposium in Dublin to consider a new accredited educational package that would provide high quality training to current and future physical activity professionals wishing to specialise in working with people living with chronic conditions.  The symposium was organised by SETU on behalf of the Physical Activity for people with Chronic Conditions (PACC) initiative, a national collaboration of physical activity, health and academic partners dedicated to increasing the participation of people with chronic conditions in accessible and high quality physical activity.

The HSE estimates that one in two Irish people over the age of 50 lives with at least one long-term, chronic condition and that these are inversely associated with socio economic status. Given the growth in the ageing population nationally and internationally, the prevalence of individuals living with chronic conditions is likely to increase. One of the primary risk factors for the development of chronic conditions is physical inactivity.  Similarly, physical activity has been found to result in health benefits for those who have been diagnosed with chronic conditions.

And yet, in spite of the importance of physical activity in preventing, minimising and reducing the health impacts of chronic conditions, there remain gaps in community-based services nationally that provide opportunities for people with chronic conditions to participate in regular, appropriate, high quality and accessible physical activity in accordance with their needs, capacities and interests.

“Ireland needs to scale up the volume of opportunities for people with chronic conditions to engage in structured exercise and wider physical activity,” highlights Professor Michael Harrison, Head of the Department of Sport and Exercise Science at the South East Technological University (SETU). “And if we want to scale up, we need a workforce operating to a national standard in exercise and physical activity for chronic conditions that is universally recognised by all sectors: exercise, health, education and by people living with chronic conditions themselves.”

SETU has been commissioned by PACC to lead a 12-month project to develop a framework for a nationally accepted qualification in this regard. The symposium in Dublin acted as a final stage of consultation with relevant sectors regarding the development of an appropriate educational programme. In the words of Michael Harrison, the proposed programme would “build greater confidence in the people who are leading classes and organising services, that they are more tuned into the needs of people with chronic conditions and more skilled in helping participants to be active.”

Those attending the symposium endorsed the need for appropriate education and training for physical activity professionals nationally and, in particular, offered insight on the core areas of knowledge and skills that would be addressed in an emerging programme of accredited training.  The level of enthusiasm present at the event was palpable. “Anybody wandering in here now would see a room full of energy, full of discussion, lots of conversations going on,” observed Sarah O’ Brien, National Lead of the HSE’s Healthy Eating and Active Living Programme. “From the HSE’s perspective, the proposed education and training package will increase health professionals’ confidence to refer and signpost patients with chronic conditions to community-based physical activity programmes and services. This should contribute in a meaningful way to reducing the impact of long-term chronic conditions on those who experience them.”

The opportunity provided by the proposed education and training package is also considered significant by the sport and physical activity sector. Speaking at the event, Dr Úna May, CEO Sport Ireland, noted, “We are really optimistic that this framework will support people who are living with chronic conditions to be more active. We see this as a real opportunity for the sport and physical activity sector to combine with the health and higher education sectors to address a gap nationally. The sectors need to collaborate and this symposium reflects that collaboration in action.”

For Further information on the symposium, the proposed accredited education programme and/or the PACC initiative please email: Neil Haran, PACC Facilitator: njharan1968@gmail.com

PACC was initiated by the Carlow, Waterford and Westmeath Sports Partnerships following a successful funding application to the Dormant Accounts Innovation Fund, administered by Sport Ireland. PACC has also received other funding from the HSE, Sláintecare and Carlow Sports Partnership.

 

PACC Project

Published: April 27, 2024

PACC Physical Activity for People with Chronic Conditions logoPhysical Activity for people with Chronic Conditions (PACC)

Who is PACC?
PACC involves a multiagency collaboration of physical activity and health professionals, alongside academics from Higher Education Institutions. It was established in 2021 by the Carlow, Waterford and Westmeath Sports Partnerships, following initial grant aid received from the Dormant Accounts Innovation Fund, administered by Sport Ireland. The initiative arose from a recognition of the need for collaboration across systems to remove systemic barriers that prevent or reduce opportunities for people with chronic conditions to participate in regular, appropriate, high quality and accessible physical activity in accordance with their needs and interests.

Who is involved? Who governs? Who manages?
The core partners involved in PACC are representatives from the following bodies:

Physical Activity: Carlow, Waterford and Westmeath Sports Partnerships.
Health: HSE Healthy Eating and Active Living Programme and HSE Self-Management Support Programme.
Academics:  South East Technological University, Carlow and Waterford, and the Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest.

Logo Strip of Core Partners: Carlow Sports Partnership, Waterford Sports Partnership, Westmeath Sports Partnership, SETU, HSE and TUS
Representatives from these bodies participate in a Core Stakeholder Group which is responsible for the direction and oversight of the initiative. Waterford Sports Partnership, as project lead, manages the initiative and all associated funding on behalf of the core stakeholders.

Who initiated PACC? Who enabled or funded PACC?
PACC was initiated by the Carlow, Waterford and Westmeath Sports Partnerships following a successful funding application to the Dormant Accounts Innovation Fund, administered by Sport Ireland. PACC has also received other funding from the HSE, Sláintecare and Carlow Sports Partnership.
Logo Strip of PACC Funders: Sport Ireland. Dormant Accounts, HSE, Slaintecare Healthy Communities and Carlow Sports 
Partnership
To whom is PACC relevant?

PACC aspires to equal opportunities for people with chronic conditions to participate in regular, appropriate, high quality and accessible physical activity in accordance with their needs, capacities and interests. Consequently, PACC is relevant to all those who share this concern, including individuals living with one or more chronic conditions.

Why is PACC in existence? What is the rationale and context for the establishment of PACC?
The HSE estimates suggest that one in two Irish people over the age of 50 lives with at least one long-term, chronic condition and that these are inversely associated with socio economic status. Given the growth in the ageing population nationally and internationally, the prevalence of individuals living with chronic conditions is likely to increase.

One of the primary risk factors for the development of chronic conditions is physical inactivity.  Similarly, physical activity has been found to result in health benefits for those diagnosed with chronic conditions.

In spite of the importance of physical activity in preventing, minimising and reducing the health impacts of chronic conditions, there remain gaps nationally in opportunities for people with chronic conditions to participate in regular, appropriate, high quality and accessible physical activity in accordance with their needs, capacities and interests. Among others, these gaps include:

- gaps in the availability of structured and supported physical activity programmes in communities; 
- gaps in locally based capacity to deliver physical activity programmes for people with chronic conditions;
- gaps in the referral of people living with chronic conditions to physical activity; and 
- gaps in the flow of information about suitable and available physical activity programmes.
PACC describes these gaps as systemic barriers to the participation of people living with chronic conditions in physical activity. A core rationale for PACC is the belief that collaboration across the systems of physical activity, health and academia is essential to remove those systemic barriers.

What are Chronic Conditions?
The HSE describes Chronic Conditions (also frequently referred to as chronic disease or chronic illness) as long-term health conditions that need ongoing treatment and management.

EXAMPLES OF CHRONIC CONDITIONS INCLUDE:
Respiratory Conditions such as Asthma or COPD | Cardiovascular Conditions such as Angina, or Heart Attack | Metabolic Conditions such as Diabetes or Obesity | Neurological Conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis or Parkinson’s | Musculoskeletal conditions such as Arthritis or Osteoporosis | Cancer | Mental Health.
The HSE estimates that one in two Irish people over the age of 50 lives with at least one long-term, chronic condition. Physical activity is recognised as an important element in preventing and treating chronic conditions.

Why did the PACC partners come together?
The PACC partners came together to address gaps in the provision of physical activity opportunities for people living with chronic conditions. They believed that responsibility for addressing those gaps did not rest with any one single sector, but with a range of professionals from physical activity, health and academic backgrounds. Therefore, the PACC partners came together to promote  collaboration across physical activity, health and academic sectors. At the time of PACC’s inception, no structure existed in Ireland to facilitate the collaborative engagement of those disciplines.

The PACC partners have sought to innovate in the area of physical activity for people with chronic conditions. Part of that innovation involved different disciplines (physical activity, health, academic) collaborating with one another in ways that they had not previously collaborated.

PACC is designing, testing and evaluating practical innovations to increase opportunities for people with chronic conditions to participate in regular, appropriate, high quality and accessible physical activity in accordance with their needs and interests. These innovations have the potential to inform the practice of professionals from physical activity, health and academic backgrounds; to contribute to new ways of working and to offer new solutions to existing problems. A core objective of PACC is that innovations developed via PACC will be replicable by others and scalable to improve physical activity outcomes for a larger number of people living with chronic conditions.

What does PACC do and how does it do it?
PACC has convened partners from physical activity, health and academic sectors to plan, design, implement and evaluate initiatives that will improve opportunities for people living with chronic conditions to participate in regular, appropriate, high quality and accessible physical activity in accordance with their needs, capacities and interests – both now and into the future.

In 2021, the PACC Core Stakeholders undertook a short but comprehensive consultation process, designed to deepen understanding of the barriers limiting the opportunities of people with chronic conditions from participating in regular, appropriate and accessible physical activity. Participants in the consultation included individuals living with chronic conditions, health and social care professionals and community-based physical activity providers. The results of the consultation assisted core stakeholders in the initiative to build a shared understanding of one another and to agree a shared understanding of need within the initiative.

Based on the findings of that consultation process, PACC developed three pilot initiatives. PACC is also about to embark on a fourth project, focused on exploring possibilities of increasing collaboration between a range of non-acute, community-based physical activity providers (e.g. sports/activity/fitness providers, HSE community-based providers, clinically supervised providers and patient advocacy groups).

The pilot projects that have been enabled under PACC are outlined in some detail below.

All of PACC’s work operates to a set of core principles. These concern commitments to:
innovation:  to testing new and sustainable responses to physical activity barriers for people with chronic conditions;
collaboration: to a process of multiple partners from multiple sectors working together to identify, develop and implement innovative responses to physical activity barriers for people with chronic conditions;
participation and, in particular, to improved physical activity participation outcomes for people living with chronic conditions in accordance with their needs, interests and functional capacities; and 
learning and to informing practice and policy relevant to the physical activity needs of people with chronic conditions.

What makes PACC innovative?
PACC has innovated by bringing together stakeholders from diverse backgrounds to engage collectively in needs-based, outcome-focused interventions that increase the participation of people with chronic conditions in physical activity.  PACC has developed a model of effective interdisciplinary working, optimising the strengths of participating sectors, while also setting out to address gaps in those sectors in a collective manner.  In tandem, as noted above, PACC has initiated practical, evidence-informed, collaborative innovations, strategically designed to remove barriers and thereby contribute to increased participation of people with chronic conditions in physical activity.

What else is happening in this space alongside the work of PACC?
Since PACC was established, two other significant programmes have evolved nationally that are particularly pertinent to the work of PACC:

The Physical Activity for Healthcare Model (PAPHM): PAPHM is an initiative of the HSE, designed to develop, refine and implement a physical activity model in the Irish healthcare system that will enable people at risk of/living with chronic conditions to become and remain physically active in their communities.  It seeks to respond systematically to the current absence of a standardised physical activity model in the healthcare system and is closely integrated with the HSE’s Making Every Contact Count (MECC) framework and the HSE’s Model of Care for the Prevention and Management of Chronic Disease.

The Physical Activity for Health Officer Pilot Programme: The Physical Activity for Health Officer pilot programme, funded by Sláintecare via Sport Ireland , aims to address physical activity as a risk factor for chronic conditions.  The pilot consists of six Physical Activity for Health officers, housed within 6 Local Sports Partnerships (LSP). The officer role will seek to ensure that those who are ready and who need more attention and care transitioning to community physical activity will be facilitated with appropriate physical activity programmes on the pathway to mainstream LSP and other community programmes that are on offer locally.

What makes PACC different?
PACC is different to other initiatives on a number of fronts:

  • It involves convening stakeholders from a variety of professional backgrounds to address barriers to physical activity for people living with chronic conditions.
  • It focuses on collaboration across systems and on removing systemic barriers that prevent or reduce opportunities for people with chronic conditions to participate in regular, appropriate, supported and high quality physical  activity in accordance with their needs and interests.
  • Its focus is on creating pilot initiatives that can be replicated on a wide scale across the country.

From where is PACC operating?  Is the work of PACC location-specific?
PACC operates under the leadership of Carlow, Waterford and Westmeath Sports Partnerships.  PACC initiatives therefore tend to be piloted in the catchments of Carlow, Waterford and Westmeath Sports Partnerships.  But the aim is to create pilot projects that can be replicated on a wider scale across the country.  One of the PACC Projects, which is supporting the design of quality assured accredited training and continuous professional development packages for physical activity professionals working with chronic conditions, already works to a national remit.

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