PHYSICAL ACTIVITY LEVEL AND PERCEIVED BARRIERS TO PHYSICAL ACTIVITY PARTICIPATION AMONG NURSES AT THE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE HOSPITAL, IBADAN, NIGERIA

A.A. Fabunmi¹, O.O. Kajero¹

Background: Physical inactivity is the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality. Studies have revealed that regular physical activity is effective in preventing and managing several non-communicable diseases such as, cerebrovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, hypertension and obesity. Health care professionals are meant to be role models when it comes to physical activity. Nurses represent the largest group of health care professionals.

Purpose: This study was therefore aimed at investigating the physical activity level and perceived barriers to physical activity participation among nurses at the University college Hospital, Ibadan.

Methods: This was a population-based study with cross sectional survey design. A convenience sampling technique was used to select all available and willing nurses. The short form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-SF) was used to collect information on the physical activity levels of the participants while the Physical Activity Barriers (PAB) questionnaire was used to collect information on the perceived barriers to physical activity participation among the participants. Data were analysed using Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequencies, percentages and charts). Inferential statistics (Chi-square test, independent t-test and one-way ANOVA) were also used to test association between the various variables. The level of significance was set at 0.05.

Results: A total of 230 nurses participated in this study. The mean age of the participants was 40.4 ± 8.2 years. Out of the 230 participants, 56 (24.3%) had high physical activity level while 100 (43.5%) and 74 (32.2%) had moderate and low physical activity levels respectively. The perception “lack of energy after finishing work” (34.8%) was the most frequently reported personal barrier, “lack of free time” (39.1%) was the most frequently reported social environmental barrier while “absence of facilities or places to do physical activities” (24.3%) was the most frequently reported physical environmental barrier. There was no significant association between the participants’ socio-demographic variables (age, sex, marital status, nursing category, professional rank) and physical activity levels of the participants. Age, marital status, nursing category and professional rank were found to be associated with the perceived barriers.

Conclusion(s): The result of this study showed that majority of the participants had moderate physical activity level.

Implications: There is the need for participants to improove on their Physical activity level. This information could help in the initiation and development of policies that will help in improvement of the physical activity level of the participants as well as reduce the barriers to physical activity participation among them.

Funding, acknowledgements: Fund for this study was provided by the authors and there is no other fund source

Keywords: Physical activity level,, Physical activity participation,, Barriers to physical activity

Topic: Health promotion & wellbeing/healthy ageing/physical activity

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: University of Ibadan.

Committee: University of Ibadan/University College Hospital (UI/UCH) Research Ethics Committee.

Ethics number: UI/EC/16/0194