Scientific Research Journal of India ● Volume: 3, Issue: 2, Year: 2014

ATTITUDE AND AWARENESS TOWARDS PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN

PRAVARA RURAL HOSPITAL AND COLLEGE

Shalu Bhardwaj*, Nisha Shinde**

ABSTRACT
Objective: To find out the attitude and awareness towards physical activity among clinical and non-
clinical staff of Pravara Rural Hospital and College.Design and Setting: It was a Questionnaire based
survey conducted in Pravara Rural Hospital and College, Pravara Deemed University, Loni,
Ahmednagar,Maharashtra. Methodology:170 participants from Pravara Rural Hospital and College,
aged between 23-60 yearswith graduation degree or diploma as their minimum level of education were
randomly selected. Questionnaires in printed format were handed over to all the participants and
werecollected by the principal investigator after four weeks.Results:31% participants does exercise 1
to 2 times a week, there were more participants engage in physical activity outside sports like walking,
cycling, etc., 29% participants like to involve in physical activity on the way to their home, 80% of
participants engage in physical activity to improve their health and 54% for weight reduction. Most the
participants gave lack of time as the main factor which prevents them from doing physical activity.
Conclusion: The survey concluded that the importance of physical activity is widely accepted across
the participants of the present study though there was some diversity among participants which
underserved when it comes to sporting opportunity.
KEYWORDS: Attitude, awareness, physical activity, sedentary life style

INTRODUCTION The key to augmentation of physical activity is

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 ISSN: 2277-1700 ● Website: http://srji.drkrishna.co.in ● URL Forwarded to: http://sites.google.com/site/scientificrji

to understand the attitude of a population the women were physically inactive.The same
towards exercise and health, together with any study reported that less than 20% of
change in such attitude induced by the respondents in the HDSS in India engaged in
immediate rewards of training.1Physical vigorous or moderate activities at work.7
activity is defined as “any bodily movement Physical activity has both health promoting and
produced by skeletal muscles that result in disease prevention properties. If everyone
2
energy expenditure”. Recommended physical followed the recommendation of being
activity is reported as moderate-intensity physically active on a daily basis, the health of
activities in a usualweek (i.e.,brisk walking, the population would improve considerably and
bicycling, vacuuming, gardening, or anything healthcare costs would drop dramatically.8To
else that causes small increases in breathing or achieve the health objectives in Healthy People
heart rate) for greater than or equal to 60 2010 and 2020, concentration should be on
minutes per day, greater than or equal to six motivating individuals to continue physical
days per week.3Increased physical activity activity programs throughout their life span.
improves quality of life, and individuals This survey sought to determine the current
reaching recommended level physical activity physical activity levels and the factors
are more likely to have better overall health influencing these levels in the clinical and non-
related quality of life. clinical staff. It will contribute to the
Physical inactivity is a major public health development of appropriate policy and
challenge in the developed world and is interventions that will promote an active and
recognized as a global epidemic.4In the long healthy population.
run physical inactivity increases the risk of
many chronic diseases in adulthood, including METHODS
coronary heart disease, colon cancer, and The study received approval from Ethical
diabetes.5The National Center for Health Committee of Pravara Institute of Medical
Statistics 2009 and Healthy People 2010lists Sciences, Loni. The survey was conducted
physical activity as one of its focus areas and among clinical and non- clinical staff aged
also as one of the leading health between 23 and 60 years and those who have
indicators.6According to the World Health sedentary lifestyle in Pravara Rural Hospital
Report 2000, physical inactivity was estimated and College.In this study, the minimum levels
to cause 1.9 million deaths worldwide every of education for all the participants were
year.The prevalence of physical inactivity in graduation degree or diploma. 170
selected rural populations in nine Health and participants,who were volunteered, included in
Demographic Surveillance Sites (HDSS) in the study. Verbal consent was obtained from all
Asia showed that 25% of the men and 35% of the participants. A brief explanation about the
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 Scientific Research Journal of India ● Volume: 3, Issue: 2, Year: 2014

study was given to all the participants.Well formal sports or are active in other,
trained study investigators visited the moreinformal ways, as well as highlighting
participants in a randomized manner and how many individuals do the most (and the
instructed them face-to-face on how to interpret least)physical activity. It also reveals how
and answer the questionnaire. Participants were Indian citizens perceive the opportunities to
given fourweeks’ time to complete the engage insporting activity in their areas, as well
questionnaire and it was collected from them as how many people volunteer to help run
by the principal investigator. Confidentiality of sporting activities in their communities and
participants was maintained. how much time they spend on such activities.

PROCEDURE RESULTS
The data analysis was done after calculating the
mean for all the answers of filled questionnaire
of each participant and accordingly pie-chart
and bar graph was plotted using Microsoft-
Excel Sheet. Incomplete questionnaires were
not included for the data analysis.
Questionnaire consists of eight questions with
multiple options.

Q1. How often do you exercise or play sports?

Questionnaire in a printed format was given to

each participants and one month time was
given to all the participants for completing the
questionnaire. Questionnaire consists of eight
questions with multiple choices answers. For
some questions,participants had to tick mark
Q2. And how often do you engage in physical
only one answer and for questions like three,
activity outside sports such as cycling or
four and seven questions participants had to
walking from a place to another, dancing,
mark more than one answers.All the questions
gardening?
were self-explanatory.The questions placesan
emphasis on the context in which people
exercise – for example, whether they play

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Q3.Where do you engage in physical activity?

Q4. Why do you engage in physical activity?

Q5. From the following reasons, what is currently preventing you the most to do physical activity more
regularly?

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 Scientific Research Journal of India ● Volume: 3, Issue: 2, Year: 2014
Q6. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements about physical therapy?
Q7. Are you a member of any of the following
clubs where you participate in recreational
physical activity?
Q8. How much time do you spend on physical
activity?
DISCUSSION
According to the present analysis, 31%
participants actively participate in physical
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activity 1 to 2 times a week, 25 % stated that,
they do it 3 to 4 times a week and no response
was given by 3%. WHO estimate that less than
one third of young people are sufficiently
active to benefit their present and future health
and well- being.932% participants engage in
physical activity outside sports such as cycling,
walking from one place to another, dancing,
gardening, etc. for five times a week. 19%
participate for one to two weeks in physical
activity outside sports and 2% were not
involved. Increase in the dependence on
motorized reach jobs and other amenities, and
thus reduce opportunities for walking and
cycling.10Many participants are physically
active as part of their everyday routine and do
not have specific motivation for it. 29% of
participants involve in physical activity on the
way between home and work place, 25%
participants spend their time in school and
university, 21 % like to do it in nature out in the
park and 16% also says that they were involved
 ISSN: 2277-1700 ● Website: http://srji.drkrishna.co.in ● URL Forwarded to: http://sites.google.com/site/scientificrji
in somewhere else for the physical activity, it
differs from individual to individual where they
want to and how much time they want to give
for the physical activity. Exercise on the way to
and from home was the main
determining the usage of such facilities is
presumably quite simple.
In increasing health conscious world, it is
perhaps unsurprising that an 80% participant
does physical activity to improve their health.
The next most commonly cited reason for
exercising was to improve fitness. 50% does it
for weight reduction and some for relaxation.
As all participants, belong to
profession, they mention lack of time as a main
factor for not involving in physical activity.
And this place is in rural area, many
participants approximately 24% gave reason for
lack of infrastructure close to their residential
area. Even some of the participants belong to
50-60 years of age group their illness or
disabilities restrict them from doing physical
activity, 44% strongly agree that college had
provided many opportunities to be physically
active. Some studied in the past showed a
strong link between education and the amount
of sport that people play.11 From the agegroup
25-35 years, 21% participants were the member
of health fitness club and 24% were not aware
of any fitness club near to their place. This
outcome suggests that many participants who
do it regularly prefer to exercise in other
context- perhaps just exercise on their own.
Man and women generally do very similar
amount of physical activity though with some
variation. Some studies suggest that women are
particularly health conscious or perhaps they
tend to have more time for exercise than men of
equivalent age.11
factor According to this study, 59% participants spend
their time occasionally or at individual event
for sporting activities. Some 15% stated that
they spend 1 to 5 hours per month for voluntary
work or sporting activities. It has been studied
that if you live alone you are more likely to be
physically inactive.11At the start of the 21st
century, however so much physical activity has
been removed from life that people may begin
medical to ignore how essential it is for health and well-
being.10
CONCLUSION
This survey indicates that physical activity is an
area where big gains can be made by
identifying and spreading good practices
between different individuals with sedentary
lifestyle.The importance of physical activity is
widely accepted across the participants of the
present study though there was some diversity
among participants which underserved when it
comes to sporting opportunity.An increase in
physical activity is one of the measures that
would have the greatest positive impact on the
health of the population.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We would like to thank all the participants of
Pravara rural Hospital and College who had
given their time to take part in this survey.
Without their active participation this study
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would not have been possible.

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CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:

*Post graduate student, College of Physiotherapy, Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences, (PIMS),
Pravara Rural Hospital, Pravara Deemed University, Loni.413 736 Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, India.
Email: ssbphysio@gmail.com
**Associate Professor, College of Physiotherapy, Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS),
Pravara Rural Hospital, Pravara Deemed University, Loni.413736 Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, India.
Email: nishakiranshinde63@gmail.com

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