Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Regarding Physical Activity in Nursing and Midwifery Students

Abstract

There are some mediators that affect physical activity such as knowledge and attitude. Some barriers such as lack of time, bad environmentsmayimpede doing physical activities. It sounds that lack of time is acommonbarrier to do physical activity in nursing and midwifery students. Since they encounter some factors that affect their health, this knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) study may be helpful to maintain and improve their health. Objectives: The current study aimed to explore the knowledge, attitude and practice related to physical activity in nursing and midwifery students. Patients and Methods: By simple randomized sampling method, 200 subjects were enrolled in the study. Based on the international physical activity questionnaire (IPAQ), a standard checklist was used to gather the related data. Then, the data were analyzed by SPSS software in 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: Mean and standard deviation of subjects’ attitude was 5.9 � 3.1 (minimum: -3, maximum: 14, median: 6). There was no significant difference in the means of knowledge and attitude between genders, and also between nursing and midwifery students. There was significant difference only regarding walking (P = 0.017), stretching (P = 0.050) and body building (P = 0.040) between the students in 95% CI. Conclusions: Based on the current study finding, planning is needed to increase KAP of the students regarding physical activity. Some types of physical activity are more attractive than others formales and females separately, yet it is important to encourage the nursing and midwifery students to examine a variety of physical activities and help them find suitable activities. Keywords: Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, Physical Activity