Medical students' practice, attitudes, and motives toward physical activity: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Medical students have substantial knowledge of the benefits of regular physical activity. A person's motives for physical activity are important in determining whether the person will be physically active. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore the attitude and motivation to be physically active among undergraduate medical students. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in a tertiary care medical institute in Manipur between July 18, 2016, and August 16, 2016. Self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Data collected were analyzed in IBM SPSS version 21. The results were summarized in frequencies and proportions for categorical variables and in means and standard deviations for continuous variables. Chi-square test, ANOVA, and Student's t-test were employed and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Out of 361 participants, 180 (49.9%) were females. The mean age of the participants was 22.55 ± 2.08 years (range: 18–34 years). Body mass index of majority of the participants (59%) fell within the normal range. About 62.3% of the students were currently engaged in physical activity. Attitude of the students toward physical activity was favorable and the total mean attitude score was 3.82. Intrinsic motivation was identified as the most important motive for being physically active. Conclusions: The participants displayed a favorable attitude toward physical activity with no difference in attitude compared to male and female students. Those who were active identified intrinsic motivation as the most important motive for being physically active.