SHORT COMMUNICATION Isra Med J.

| Vol 11 - Issue 4 - Part B | Jul – Aug 2019

Physical activity and health-promoting practices among female medical students

Anum Sattar1, Sarah Ehsan2, Tahir Mahmood3, Rabia Khalil4, Sabiha Arshad5

ABSTRACT

This Cross sectional observational study was conducted to determine the level of physical activity and its association with health-
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promoting practices of female medical students at Azra Naheed Medical College, Lahore from 11 January 2016 to 14 March 2016.
In this study, over a sample of 158 students, Rapid Assessment of physical activity tool was used to check the level of physical
activity and Health-promoting life style profile-II scale was used to measure the health promoting behaviors of the participants.
On Rapid Assessment of physical activity-I scale 5.1% females were scored as sedentary and 44.4% females were scored as active.
The mean value of Rapid assessment of physical activity-I was suboptimal i.e. Mean±SD=4.74±1.89.The Average score of Health
promoting lifestyle profile-II was 2.41±.404.Physical activity and health promoting practices showed weak correlation (p=0.41).
Conclusion: Female medical students were less physically active. Health promoting practices had no influence on physical activity
level of females.
Keywords: Medical student, Female, Physical activity, Physical activity assessment, Life style, Health-promoting practices

How to Cite This:

Sattar A, Ehsan S, Mahmood T, Khalil R, Arshad S. Physical activity and health-promoting practices among female medical students.
Isra Med J. 2019; 11(4)-Part B: 334-337.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original work is properly cited.

INTRODUCTION health-compromising behaviors has been found to be higher in

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females as compared to males . Evidence suggests that the
Health promoting behaviors play a vital role in determining the physical activity habits and the health-related behaviors of the
of health status of individuals. The underlying cause of most of medical personnel does have an influence on their clinical
the health related issues of young people is attributed to the attitudes towards physical activities and other attributes of
.3
health-compromising behaviors according to the International health promotion . Teenage boys are more active than
Association for adolescent health. The World Health teenager girls. In one longitudinal study on the association of
Organization (WHO) states that decreased physical health behaviors and the body satisfaction in adolescents has
1
activity is the biggest causes of mortality and impairment . The shown a lower body satisfaction associated with a higher level
4
students have been found to give less attention towards a of health-compromising behaviors and practices . A research
healthy lifestyle irrespective of a superior knowledge of health- results showed that there was a decrease in the level of
promoting habits as compared to non-medical students. physical activity among senior girls as compare to junior class
5
According to the youth risk behavior survey the prevalence of with the passage of time .
1. Demonstrator of Physical Therapy Rye in the study compared the health behaviors of medical
Akhtar Saeed Medical College, Lahore residents and students. It was reported that the medial
2. Lecturer, Physical Therapist residents were less adherent to the health-promoting
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Superior University, Lahore behaviors as compared to medical students . Nisar conducted a
3. Lecturer, Physical Therapist survey on the dietary habits and lifestyle of medical college
Agile Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences, Bahawalpur students. The study showed a higher prevalence of unhealthy
7,8
4. Physiotherapist, Amna Medical Complex, Lahore lifestyle amongst the students . Wileum Van Mechelenl
5. Physiotherapist, Bashir Medical Complex, Lahore studied physical activity in Amsterdam people for health. It was
concluded that physical activity level decline over the period of
Correspondence: time. Males performed more habitual physical activity than
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Tahir Mahmood females . In studies by Stock, the gender specific health
Lecturer of Physiotherapy, Agile Institute of Rehabilitation behaviors of university students using a questionnaire survey. It
Sciences Bahawalpur. was concluded that women showed more interest in individual
10
Email: [email protected] counseling programs for health-promotion A few researches
have been conducted regarding physical activity among
Received for Publication: June 17, 2019 females. Mostly comparative studied have been done. This
st
1 Revision of Manuscript: July 04, 2019 study will help out the medical students for motivation and
Accepted for Publication: July19, 2019 change in behavior towards a healthy life style. The objective of

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Anum Sattar et al Isra Med J. | Vol 11 - Issue 4 - Part B | Jul – Aug 2019

this study was to determine the physical activity level among RESULTS
females and its association with health-promoting practices of
female students of Medical College. After data analysis of Rapid assessment of Physical activity
scale, out of158 females, only 5.1% females scored as
METHODOLOGY sedentary lifestyle (n=8) and 44.4% females scored as active
that showed a high level of physical activity (n=70) After data
This cross sectional observational study was conducted after analysis of Rapid Assessment of Physical activity II scale, out of
the approval from the ethical review board of Azra Naheed 158 females only 8.2% females performed strengthening
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Medical College from 11 January 2016 to 14 March, 2016 in exercise once a week or more (N=13) and 38% females
Azra Naheed Medical College, Lahore. A sample of 158 females performed no strength or flexibility activities (N=60).
was selected using simple random sampling from all
departments of medical college. Females in age range of 19-25, Table-I: Frequency distribution of strength and flexibility
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from 3 -5 year were included in the study. The females with activities (N=158)
any Systemic or pathological disease, any recent surgery or Frequency n(%)
history of trauma, psychological disorders i-e taking medicine
No strength or flexibility activities 60 (38%)
for depression or stress, any chronic illness and congenital
abnormalities, Married female were also excluded. The Strengthening, once a week or more 13 (8.2%)
questionnaires were consisting of three parts. Part A was Flexibility, once a week or more 56 (35.4%)
consist of a self-report questionnaire in which Name, Age, Both flexibility and strength 29 (18.4%)
Social status, Residential area, Height, Weight; Body mass index
will be included. Part B was consisting of an instrument to The mean value of Rapid assessment of Physical activity-I was
measure the health-promoting practices of female medical 4.74(SD=1.893) while minimum value was 1 and maximum
students. The instrument was the Health-promoting life style value was 7.The mean for Rapid assessment of Physical activity-
profile-II, which was a validated tool to measure the health II was 1.34 (SD=1.166) while minimum value was 0 and
promoting behaviors. The content validity and test-retest maximum value was.
reliability of the revised tool was high. Part C consisted of Rapid
assessment of physical activity. This tool was valid to measure Table-II: Descriptive statistics of rapid assessment of physical
the level of physical activity. Female requested to fill the activity-I and rapid assessment of physical activity-II (N=158)
questionnaires. All three sections of questionnaire were
Mean±SD Minimum Maximum
completed in 30 minutes. The Health-promoting lifestyle
Rapid Assessment of
profile-II is a 52-item questionnaire which consists of six 4.74±1.893 1 7
Physical Activity-I
subscales i.e. spiritual growth, interpersonal relations,
nutrition, physical activity, health responsibility and stress Rapid Assessment of
1.34±1.166 0 3
management. Each item on the scale has to be numbered on a Physical Activity-II
4-point Likert scale where ‘1’ shows ‘never’, ‘2’ for ‘sometimes’, SD*=Standard deviation
‘3’ for ‘often’ and ‘4’ is marked for ‘routinely’. The mean scores
for each subscale calculated individually. The α-coefficient for Regarding mean value of Health promoting life style profile II
the internal consistency has been found for the scale to be .943 was 2.41(SD=.404) while minimum value was 1 and maximum
and for subscales are 0.793 to 0.872. value was 4 which showed females follow less health
The test-retest reliability is 0.892.Physical activity is defined as promoting behavior. Out of 6 subscales of health promoting
any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscle that lifestyle profile, Spiritual growth scored maximum Mean value
requires energy expenditure. (WHO) This scale is reliable to 2.57(SD=.558) while Health responsibility scored lowest value
check the level of physical activity among people. It has three 2.21(SD=.471).
parts Aerobic, flexibility and strength level. Specificity and
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sensitivity of this scale is 0.75 and 0.73 respectively . Table-III: Descriptive statistics of subscales of health
promoting lifestyle profile II ( N=158)
Data Analysis: Data Analysis was done by IBM SPSS Statistics Mean±SD Maximum Minimum
version 21. Frequency, Mean and standard deviation was Health responsibility 2.21±.471 4 1
calculated for the health promoting lifestyle profile scale and
Nutrition 2.23±.516 4 1
rapid assessment of physical activity tool was used as outcome
measurement tool. Linear Regression and Pearson correlation Spiritual growth 2.57±.558 4 1
were used to measure the correlation between health Interpersonal relationship 2.55±.537 4 1
promoting practices and physical activity level. P value of <0.05
Stress management 2.52±.540 4 1
was considered significant.

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DISCUSSION report poor mental health than students who did not meet
recommendations. This study reveals results contradictory to
This study comprehensively defined the life style of female our research. Another research that is in support this research
medical students. Level of physical activity in teenager females that self-determination or promoting practices had a weak,
8 17
was found less as compared to males . Mostly females had negative association with physical activity .
suboptimal level of physical activity on Rapid assessment of In summary we observed that the female medical students are
physical activity scale because they had scored less than 6 that less active. They had unhealthy lifestyle. As the only 8.2 %
showed they were less physically active. Overall their level of were involved in exercise for strengthening while females not
physical activity was labeled as underactive regular physical involved in Strength training were 38%. So, results revealed
activity. that females had suboptimal level of physical activity and
Most of the females did not perform any flexibility and Health promoting behavior as they also scored them low in
strengthening exercise. While comparing studies conducted on numbers.
the Saudi females in which results reveal that females had low CONCLUSION
physical activity level. They were less physical active due to lack
of health beliefs. Pedometer was used to check the level of Results of the study revealed that female medical students
2
physical activity in that study .This study also has been were found physically less active. Health promoting practices
described the health promoting behavior of female students. had no influence on physical activity level of females.
Data analysis concluded that overall mean value of 52
questions was low. That showed females had unhealthy CONTRIBUTION OF AUTHORS
behavior and lifestyle. Out of 6 subscales of Health promoting
lifestyle profile, health responsibility scored lowest mean value Sattar A: Conceived idea, Designed research methodology,
while spiritual growth scored as highest mean value. Result Data collection
showed females did not pay attention to their health but they Ehsan S: Manuscript drafting, Manuscript writing
had strong spiritual beliefs. A study has been conducted on Mahmood T: Final critical review of manuscript and Final
post-partum females which showed that Health promoting Approval
lifestyle profile score was low. Out of 6 subscales physical Khalil R: Statistical analysis, Literature search
activity was scored as lowest. They find out the positive Arshad S: Data collection and compilation, Literature review
relationship between Health promoting lifestyle and social
12.
support While in another research which has been conducted Disclaimer: None.
on students which reveal different result. Conflict of Interest: None.
Females had positive health promoting behaviors. But there Source of Funding: None.
was no such correlation between health promotion and
13,14
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