Heart disease prevention in women: promoting exercise.
OBJECTIVE
To reinforce the importance of exercise in reducing heart disease in women and to describe motivational interviewing (MI), an effective and efficient approach to promoting exercise with women in a brief office visit with a nurse practitioner (NP).


METHODS
Information was obtained from a literature review. Two brief examples from clinical practice are presented.


CONCLUSIONS
Although exercise can reduce the risk of heart disease in women, most women do not exercise enough to achieve a risk reduction. Although health promotion is a key goal of the NP, it can be difficult to incorporate in a busy practice. When time is limited, brief MI interactions can be effective in less than 10 min, and the results surpass those of the traditional advice to exercise.


CONCLUSIONS
MI is an effective approach to exercise counseling that the NP can quickly learn and successfully conduct within the confines of a brief office visit.
Perry
Cindy K
CK
Family and Child Nursing, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-7262, USA. perryc@u.washington.edu
Bennett
Jill A
JA
D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D009042:Motivation; D009722:Nurse Practitioners; D016387:Women's Health