Background
Methods
Study population and sampling
Data collection – quantitative study (phase 1)
Data collection – qualitative study (phase 2)
Data analysis
Results
Socio-demographic characteristics
Phase 1 – physical activity
Domains | Activity category | Prevalence | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
All (n = 113) | Males (n = 37) | Females (n = 76) | ||
Overall | Inactive | 48.7% | 51.3% | 47.4% |
Moderately active | 35.4% | 35.2% | 35.5% | |
Highly active | 15.9% | 13.5% | 17.1% | |
Leisure time activity | Inactive | 80.6% | 70.3% | 85.5% |
Moderately active | 15.0% | 24.3% | 10.6% | |
Highly active | 4.4% | 5.4% | 3.9% | |
Work/job based activity | Inactive | 66.4% | 70.3% | 64.5% |
Moderately active | 33.6% | 29.7% | 35.5% | |
Highly active | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Transport related activity | Inactive | 44.2% | 45.9% | 43.4% |
Moderately active | 47.8% | 40.5% | 51.3% | |
Highly active | 8.0% | 13.6% | 5.3% | |
House hold/garden choirs | Inactive | 57.5% | 59.5% | 56.6% |
Moderately active | 33.7% | 27.0% | 36.8% | |
Highly active | 8.8% | 13.5% | 6.6% |
Phase 2 - qualitative study
Themes | Reasons |
---|---|
Time |
“Increased academic work load reduces the time to engage in sports”
“Lack of appropriate time management to include exercise into daily routine”
“More time spent on travelling”
“Have other daily activities after going home to engage in”
|
Motivation & Support |
“Do not like sports. Like to be calm and alone watch TV, browse internet or read”
“Do not like to get hurt/feel pain”
“Get tired quickly”
“Not enjoyable”
“Increase workload increases stress, preventing involvement in sports”
“Nobody appreciates doing sports (peers, teachers)”
“Need a partner or a friend to do sports”
“No support from family, school and teachers”
“Need a supervisor or a coach”
“Do not like to get tired. Can’t study after exercising”
|
Facilities |
“Do not have a gymnasium at place of study”
“At hostel there is no room or appropriate space to exercise”
“There is no ground nearby, must travel by bus”
“No money to go to a gym or buy equipment”
|
Personal |
“Do not know benefits”
“Medical reasons (wheezing)”
“Do not like to being in the sun”
“Lack of nutritious food in hostels and boarding places. Do not have enough energy”
“Difficult to change dresses”
|
Theme 1: time
“We mention time only to justify ourselves. If there is an attitude of doing sport, any way you can change the time and the schedule”. (P3: Male, 24 years)
“When we go to the hostel we are tired. We don’t have good food like at home. We once started jogging in the morning for some time, then stopped. When we run and come it’s 7.30 am. We have to go for lectures at 8.00 am. There is not enough time.”(P6: Male, 22 years)
Theme 2: support and motivation
“When I was schooling I did not do many sports. That might also be a reason not being active now. It might be the mentality carried from my childhood and may be the environment I was in at that time.” (P15: Female, 24 years)
“My family asked me to go to the campus as it will give me a job and playing will not. Teachers also didn’t tell about the benefits of sports or move us towards them” (P8: Male, 23 years)“A well respected teacher once told me not to do extracurricular things, but to study.” (P21: Female, 22 years)
“People who came for interfaculty games say that they won’t come next time. When asked why, they said that academic performance has gone down, got repeated in exams and demoted to the junior batch. Even faculty should think about this, that these students do sports for the university. So must be able to reschedule the exams. The students think that I do this for the university and university doesn’t do anything back for me” (P3: Male, 24 years)“Most of my teachers, parents and others motivated to get education and go to the university. So most our target was to go to a university and get a degree which will help to get a job and settle in life. Teachers told us ‘Don’t do sports! Concentrate on education!’ They did not encouraged us to do sports” (P17: Male, 23 years)
“I don’t feel like going alone to the ground and play. Feel shy, if there is crowd I would like. If alone I won’t go” (P2: Female, 22 years)“When I was schooling I played netball. Now when going to grounds if girls are not going, we also don’t. The environment and friends matter.”(P11: Female, 21 years)
“Better to have a partner. At my boarding place there was nobody and I was living in an unknown area. I didn’t go for exercise alone.” (P3: Male, 24 years)
“There is some influence from the course I do. The knowledge I got. If I do not exercise that I will be getting diseases.”(P9: Female, 25 years)“Now we have a motivation because we are doing a health related course. But if we did it as a subject from childhood would have been better!!! We have to give emphasis that these kind of things to happen in policy” (P3: Male, 24 years)“We being physiotherapists, can’t tell others to exercise without us doing them. There is a motivation from our profession to exercise.” (P7: Male, 23 years)
Theme 3: facilities
“Mainly because the ground was distant, number of friends going to the ground reduced. Also our unit premises do not have enough space to do indoor or outdoor activity. Previously we got together and played badminton. Now there is no space for that even. We only can play carom.” (P4: Male, 24 years)
“Facilities are a problem at the unit. We established a Gym. Basic things are there but no facilities to wash, only strengthening activities are available there no aerobics part. It’s not a barrier but it is a problem.”(P3: Male, 24 years)
Theme 4: Personal
“When I was very young I tried sports but I am not good at it. When we are not good at something we do not perform. So subsequently you detach from it. So after that I did not try to get involve in sports. Because I have no ability in that. I tried to improve something that I am good at.” (P9: Female, 25 years)
“When I was very young teachers parents encouraged me for sports. After grade 9 all of them did not like that. In my school no girl did sports. So they look at us differently if we did sports. Girls go for marching and drills. Running is a sport that is not appropriate for our dress. My family members also did not like that. You have to dress suiting for exercise like a t-shirt. We don’t wear t shirts. I do activities in the hostel. Can’t do that in the campus due to the culture problem.” (P5: Female, 23 years)
“I think according to gender physical activity differs. I don’t know. We all play together in childhood. But when we grow older that change, girls do not engage in playing much, it reduces. I don’t know the reason, must be the culture we are in” (P12: Female, 23 years)