COMPARISON OF PERCEIVED BENEFITS AND BARRIERS TO EXERCISE AMONG MEDICAL AND NON-MEDICAL STUDENTS

Background: Perceptions of exercise benefits and barriers in medical and non- medical students needs to be explored as it is expected that medical students have more awareness regarding physical activities. Objective: To compare the perception of exercise benefits and barriers among medical and non-medical students. Methodology: This comparative cross-sectional study was conducted in 6 months from November 2020 to April 2020, on sample of n=289 regular male and female students in the age range of 19-27 years. The data of final year medical students was collected from Azra Naheed Medical College and nonmedical students from Superior University, Lahore Through on probability convenient sampling technique. The perception of exercise benefits and barriers was assessed using the exercise benefit/barrier scale (EBBS). The data was carried out by an online Google form due to the pandemic situation. The independent sample t-test was used to estimate of difference among both groups. Results: The mean age of the participants was 23.75±2.11 years. A total of n=164(56.74%) were males and n=125 (43.25%) were females. The result of independent t-test showed no significant difference between medical and non-medical students regarding exercise benefit (91.2±11.66 ver. 91.09±12.83, p=0.93) and barriers (34.97±7.22 ver. 35.27±7.62, p=0.72) as well in total score of EBBS (126.23±14.450 ver. 125.81±16.390, p=0.810).Conclusion: It is concluded that medical and non-medical final year students are equally aware about exercise benefits and barriers. Keywords: Benefits, BarriersExercise, Medical students, non-medical students, hysical activity, Perception