Physical activity awareness and participation among health professionals in selected hospitals in Kano Metropolis, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Evaluating the level of physical activity participation and awareness among healthcare professionals is expedient as it will reveal how well health professionals know about physical activity and engage in it. Purpose: This study was aimed at evaluating the physical activity participation and awareness among health professionals in selected hospitals in Kano Metropolis, Nigeria. Materials and method: Cluster and convenient sampling techniques were used to select respondents for the study. The population that was included were health professionals from the fields of Physiotherapy, Nursing, Dentistry, Radiography, Medical Laboratory Sciences, Medicine, Surgery, Pediatrics, O&G, and Ophthalmology working in five major hospitals in Kano Metropolis. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Version was used to evaluate the participation level of health professionals. The Physical Activity Awareness Questionnaire was used to assess the awareness level of physical activity among healthcare professionals. Descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation were used to summarize the results of the study. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the difference in physical activity participation and awareness across health professions and years of professional practice. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS Version 20) was used for the data analysis at an alpha level of 0.05. Results: About 49.6% of the respondents had a moderate physical activity participation level, and 78.8% of them had high physical activity awareness. There was a statistically significant difference in physical activity participation across health professions. Conclusion: The majority of the health professionals reported moderate participation in physical activity and had high awareness about it.