Role Positioning and Competence Standards of Exercise Professionals in UK Exercise Referral: Implications for Social Sports Instructors in China

Abstract

What responsibilities exercise professionals who receive referred clients should assume, what competences they should possess, and how their qualifications can be verified are questions that must be answered if exercise referral is to be rolled out in primary care and community settings. Drawing on theories of institution-based trust and occupational regulation, and based on primary documents of exercise referral in the UK, this study examines the institutional arrangements for UK exercise professionals across four links (risk stratification, role positioning, competence standards and qualification registration) and compares them with China’s system of social sports instructors. The findings show that the UK assigns staff tiers according to clients’ health risk, specifies responsibilities through assessable National Occupational Standards, and makes qualifications verifiable through industry registration. These three elements are bound to one another and are implemented mainly through service agreements, industry registration and professional liability insurance rather than statutory licensing. In China, by contrast, the grade system for social sports instructors is not linked to clients’ health risk, and the system lacks both responsibilities that connect instructors with healthcare providers and channels through which their qualifications can be verified. It is recommended that an “exercise referral professional” post be established, under whose overall responsibility social sports instructors would lead sessions for low-risk clients. This arrangement should be implemented through specialized competence modules, designations in the information management system, referral protocols and government service-procurement contracts.