Depression, physical activity and mental health: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of general practitioners’ experiences of exercise referral schemes in the North West

While there is compelling evidence which demonstrates that physical exercise can have beneficial impacts on mild-to-moderate cases of depression, and strong beneficial impacts on subthreshold depressive symptoms, rates of referral to exercise-based programmes in the UK remains low, particularly when compared to the use of other avenues of treatment. This paper reports findings from an interpretative phenomenological study of semi-structured interviews with a small sample (N=4) of General Practitioners in the North West, exploring their experience-based attitudes and assumptions pertaining to the status and value of formal exercise referral schemes.