Assessment of Health Behaviour of High Leaning Institution Staffs

A Case of Tanzania Institute of Accountancy (TIA)

By

Research Concept Note

1.1 Introduction
This chapter consists of a brief introduction of the research study. The chapter also illustrates the
problem statement, the research objectives as well as the research questions which outlines the
focus of the study. It also explains the significance and the scope of the study.

1.2 Background of the Study

Different kind of people views meaning of Health in different perspectives. The majority of them
view health as a state of not being sick and ability to go about your daily activities without any
hitch. Irrespective of individual view and definition of health, but according to World Health
Organization (WHO) has given the most and comprehensive definition of health as a state of
complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of diseases or
infirmity(Lee et al., 2011, Pirincci et al., 2008). This definition has been in existence since 1948
and it has not being amended since its adoption. Currently there is a paradigm shift in concept of
health as it is not just the responsibility of the health sector alone but responsibility of an
individual. It is a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources as well as physical
capacities(World Health Organization, 2015). According to WHO definition of health, to be
healthy an individual has to put inan effort.An individual must be able to identify and realize
aspirations, satisfy needs and finally change or cope with his/her environment(World Health
Organization, 2015, Keshavarz et al., 2013). Therefore to maintain an optimal health goes
beyond healthy lifestyle to well-being. AlsoPirincci et al. (2008) mentioned that the concept of
health currently focuses on understanding health centred care that protects, maintains and
improves the health of an individual, family and community based on the acquisition of
knowledge and behaviours of an individual that will protect, maintain and promote his/her well-
being as well as enable the individual to make decisions about his/her own health. Lifestyle-
related diseases are increasing, and today non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular
illnesses, cancer, and diabetes are reaching epidemic proportions worldwide (Jonsdottir et al.,
2011). Sixty-three percent of all deaths globally are caused by chronic diseases which is the
leading cause of mortality in the world. (Kirag &Ocaktan, 2013). It was also reported that
morbidity attributed to non-communicable diseases account for nearly half of the global burden
of disease (Nassar & Shaheen, 2014).A number of chronic diseases are strongly associated with
unhealthy lifestyle including poor nutrition and being sedentary, overweight or obese (Schröer et
al., 2013).In the United State cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is the leading cause of deaths in
both men and women, killing an average of one person every 37 seconds (Artinian et al., 2010).
According to Tsai & Liu (2012), health-promoting behaviours were described by Walker et al. as
behaviors that were directed towards sustaining or increasing the individual’s level of well-
being, self-actualization and personal fulfillment. Health promoting lifestyle behaviours are
activities focusing on improving the level of well-being of an individual, family and community
as a whole (Turkmen et al., 2015). A lifestyle of an individual constitutes what he/she eats,
drinks, smoke, level of physical activities participation, sexual behaviour, interpersonal
relationship and stress management. The effect of all the aforementioned lifestyle contributed to
most degenerative and chronic diseases that has had high prevalence rate in the recent time.
There is a link between some socio-demographic variables and health promoting lifestyle
behaviour generally (Pirincci et al., 2008, Turkmen et al., 2015, Joseph-Shehu &Irinoye, 2015,
Zhang et al., 2011). With increases in the development of technology and intensive workload,
many staff in the universities live a sedentary lifestyle which makes them to be physically
inactive (Pirincci et al., 2008, Turkmen et al., 2015). Literature revealed that sedentary lifestyle
leads to a greater risk of developing a coronary heart diseases, hypertension, high blood lipid
profile, type II diabetes, obesity and some form of cancers like colon and breast cancer (Turkmen
et al., 2015, Artinian et al., 2010, Shehu et al., 2013). This review aims at exploring health
promoting lifestyle behaviour of university staff and factors that influencing it. Health promoting
lifestyle profile was developed by Pender in 1987 and reversed in 1996. It consist of self-
actualization, nutrition, stress management, physical activity, interpersonal relationship and
health responsibility (Beser et al., 2007, Kirag & Ocaktan, 2013). This instrument has been
widely used by many researchers to assess the health promoting lifestyle. Pirincci et al. (2008)
gave a comprehensive definition of all the subsets of health promoting lifestyle as follows:
physical activity is the amount of exercise needed by an individual to maintain a healthy life.
‘Self-actualization is about a person’s positive approach to himself/herself and his/her abilities in
terms of improving his/her talents and creativity to achieve his/her goals in life. Health
responsibility is about a person’s attention and sensibility for his/her own health. An
interpersonal relation is the ability to communicate with and sustain one’s close environment.
Nutrition is about a person’s eating habits and meal choices. Finally, stress management is about
knowing the factors that affect a person’s stress level and their ability to control them’.
1.3 Statement of the Problem
Since health is very crucial regarding the peoples lifestyles. Many university staff 3ehavior do
not practice beneficial health behaviors. Previous research has documented the benefits of
healthy behaviors for reducing depression (Craft, Freund, Culpepper, & Perna, 2007), anxiety
(Ekkekakis, Hall, & Petruzzello, 1999), and stress (Nguyen-Michel, Unger, Hamilton, & Spruijt-
Metz, 2006), and improving academic performance (Sibley & Etnier, 2003). Research has also
shown that life satisfaction is related to healthy behaviors in a number of different populations
(Kelly, 2004; Rudolf & Watts, 2002; Valois, Zullig, Huebner, & Drane, 2004b), but less is
known about the relationship between healthy behaviors and life satisfaction in the college
student. There is limited literature addressing health promoting lifestyle profile of university
staff. Pirincci et al. (2008) conducted a descriptive survey of factors influencing health
promoting lifestyle of academic staff of a university. The result revealed that the academic staff
practiced health promoting lifestyle profile (HPLP) as the mean score was 2.98±0.39. The
highest mean score for HPLP is 4.00. Staff scored highest on self-actualization subscale
(2.98±0.44 and lowest for exercise or physical activity subscale (2.05±0.76). It was therefore
expected that as academic staff they have a high level of health promoting lifestyle which was
not so in this study. Focused of health promotion has been mainly on nutrition and exercise for a
very long time. Critical examination of advent in increased in prevalence of non-communicable
diseases calls for attention to other aspect of health promoting lifestyle. To this effect health
promoting lifestyle profile which consists of nutrition, exercise, health responsibility, stress
management, interpersonal relationship and self-actualization should be more focus when
considering health promoting lifestyle. This study therefore assess if all aspects of health
beahviour of university staffs meets the effects of promoting lifestyle profile such as nutrition,
stress management and interpersonal relationship.
1.4 Objective of the Study
This section is divided into two sub-sections that are the main/general objective and the specific
objectives.
1.4.1 General Objective
The main objective of this study is to assess the health behavior of university staffs taking TIA as
the case study.
1.4.2 Specific Objectives of the Study
In order to achieve the general objective above, the following specific objectives will be
considered;
i. To assess university staff behavior follow right nutrition of their health.
ii. To determine challenges facing university staff for their maintenance of health behavior.
iii. To examine the status of stress affect the university staff behavior.
1.5 Research Questions
The study will address the following research questions
i. Does university staff behavior follow right nutrition for their health?
ii. What are the challenges facing university staff for their maintenance of health behavior?
iii. To what extent the status of stress affect the university staff behavior?
1.6 Significance of the Study
The study will give knowledge to the university staff on the maintaining of their status of health
behaviour. The study will emphasize the best ways of aspect of health behavior such as right
nutrition, exercise, stress management and interpersonal relationship thus there will be no more
health problems among the university staff. The study will be a secondary source of other
researches on the same or related topic.
2.1 Literature Review Matrix
The researcher intends to review various literatures on the health behavior of university staff.
Below is the summarized literature review matrix
Research Author (s), Year Purpose/ Methodology Findings Conclusion
Objectives title Aim of
study
To assess Artinian, N. T., (2010). Behavior of Qualitative/ The The study
university Fletcher, G. F., university Quantitative results recommend
staff Mozaffarian, D., staffa indicate to
behavior Kris-Etherton, towards the the university
follow right P., Van Horn, effect of negative staff to be
nutrition of L., Lichtenstein, their health effect provided
their health A. H., impressio the
Kumanyika, S., n for education
Kraus, W. E., university that will
Fleg, J. L. & staff motivates
Redeker, N. S. behaviour them to
2010. Cobham follow
right
nutrition
for their
health
To Pirincci, E., (2018) there are Qualitative There are The
determine Rahman, S., some various University
challenges Durmuş, A. & factors that challenges should use
facing Erdem, R. affect the including the
university university fear of available
staff for health checking resources
their behavior their to cater the
maintenanc that makes health challenges
e of health them poor status
behavior in their
health
maintenance
To what Tsai, Y. & Liu, (2012). Stress affect Qualitative Stress Introductio
extent the C. the manageme n of stress
status of bahaviour nt manageme
stress affect of strategies nt training.
the university is
university staff by necessary
staff greater to combat
behavior extent the
behavior
3.1 Proposed Research Design, Methods/Procedures
3.2 Introduction
(Kothari, 2006) defines research methodology as a way to systematically solve the research
problems. This chapter is therefore aimed at transmitting the details procedures that is showing
the steps to be taken by the researcher in collecting data, the methodological foundations and the
reasons behind the researcher’s choice of the research methods to be used.
3.3 Research Design
Research design refers to the plan on how the researcher systematically collected and analyzed
data needed to answer research questions. It is a framework or roadmap through which a research
process is conducted to explain the social phenomena under investigation (Kothari, 2006). The
study will take into account both descriptive and exploratory designs. These research designs are
found to be suitable for this study basing on how much knowledge the researcher had about the
problem before starting the investigation and the type of information that will be needed in order
to deal with the purpose of this study. In addition they have been chosen on grounds of
minimizing bias and maximizing the reliability of the data collected.
3.4 Study Area
The study will be conducted in Tanzania Institute of Accountancy Dar-es-Salaam, where by
some it is the high learning institution that which located in the city which has many health
institutions. The area was selected because of its popularity in accommodating many health
services.
3.5 Study Population
(Sekaran, 2003) described population in research as an entire group of people; event or
objects/things of interest that the researcher wished to investigate. The study problem requires
assessing the health behavior of university staffs taking TIA as the case study. Thus the
population of the study will include registered all TIA staffs that will be visited in their working
places/offices within the study area.
3.6 Sample Size and Sampling Techniques
Sample according to (Kothari, 2006) can be defined as a collection of some parts of the
population on the bases of which judgment is made. A sample should be small enough to make
data collection convenient and should be large enough to be true representative of the population
which is selected. In this study TIA offices selected will be those who have worked with TIA for
not less than six years. The reason behind this kind of selection criteria is that, it is enough time
for staff to ask for their health status.
3.6.1 Sample Techniques
According to (Kothari, 2006), sample procedure is defined as the process of selecting some part
of the aggregate of the totality based on which a judgment or inference about the aggregate or
totality is made. Being a process of selecting a group of people, events, behavior, or other
elements with which to conduct a study it is also involved in selection of technique to be used in
the selection process. The choice of a sampling technique depend in a situation whether a
sampling frame is available or not, that is, a list of the units comprising the study population.
There are two types of sampling procedures namely probability sampling and non-probability
sampling. For the case of this study, since it is hard for the researcher to obtain sample
frame/total population of staff of TIA with the required experience at the said location, non-
probability sampling specifically purposive and convenience sampling techniques will be used to
obtain the representative of staffs of TIA. The selection of these techniques also based on the
merits that these types of sampling techniques are simple and cheap to use.
3.6.2 Sample Size
Sample size is the number of respondents selected to participate in the study from targeted
population. It depends on the accuracy needed, population size, population heterogeneity
whether the sample is subdivided or not and resources available (Strydom, 2005). (Kothari,
2006) reiterated this definition by defining a sample size as the number of items to be selected
from the universe to constitute the sample. The sample size of this study will be included 40
TIA’s staff..
3.7 Methods of Data Collection
Based on the work of (Yin, 1994) data collection method is described as the specific approach
used to gather information, and the choice of method depends on research objectives and
questions to be addressed. Data collected for the study comprised of both primary and secondary
data.
3.7.1 Primary Data
This is defined as gathering data that does not actually exist until it is generated through the
research process (Lancaster, 2005). The primary data for this study will be collected using
structured questionnaire, and interview approaches.
3.7.1.1 Questionnaire
According to (Kothari, 2006), a questionnaire is a set of questions which are usually sent to the
selected respondents to answer at their own convenient time and return back the field
questionnaire to the researcher. Questionnaires will be used in the study to obtain data from
respondents concerning with the reasons for adopting health as well as strength and weaknesses
of their maintaining of health status. Close ended questions were employed in this study because
they are easier and convenient to fill by respondents. All respondents will be given closed ended
questionnaires to fill.
3.7.1.2 Interview
According to (Kothari, 2006) an interview can be viewed as a set of questions administered
through oral or verbal communication or it can be a face to face discussion between the
researcher and the respondent. For this study interview will be used to supplement data after
collection of filled questionnaires. Interview will be used to collect qualitative data from some
few selected respondents especially those staffs with managerial cadre who seems not to have
enough time to answer the questionnaire .
3.7.2 Secondary Data
According to (Saunders, 2007) secondary data can best be described as the data which were
developed and analyzed in the process of accomplishing other research objectives. Secondary
data are considered credible and free from error or any bias. The suitable source of secondary
data for this study in the field of tax collection system to gain more understanding of the
effectiveness of tax collection will be from various reports of TIA such as their health annual
reports. After the collection of secondary data, the information obtained will be subjected to data
processing which included editing with the view of checking for completeness and accuracy to
ensure that data is accurate and consistent and coding of data which was done manually and by
the use of computer through word processing and excel.
3.8 Data Analysis
According to (Zikmund, 2003) data analysis is the application of reasoning to understand and
interpret data that has been collected. From this study the process of data analysis depended on
the nature of the data whether it is qualitative or quantitative. In analyzing qualitative data the
thematic analysis of the collected data will be undertaken in order to understand the common
pattern in the data. Therefore, the validated interviews collected from respondents in the study
area will be analyzed using the method described by ( Leedy and Ormond, 2001) as follows:-
(Babbie,2004) narrated that normally quantitative research approach tend to focus on analyzing
numerical data, compared to qualitative approach which deals with meanings, examining the
attitudes, feelings and motivations of people. Descriptive analysis will be used in calculations of
percentages and arithmetic mean of collecting data in order to come up with valid conclusions.
Content analysis will be used for qualitative analysis.
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