Influence of previous participation in physical activity on its perceptions among tertiary institution students
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Date
2006
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Africa Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation,Sport and Dance/LAM Publications Limited
Abstract
Physical inactivity is one of the leading causes of the
major non-communicable diseases, which contribute
substantially to the global burden of diseases, death
and disability. The burden of mortality, morbidity and
disability attributable to non-communicable diseases
is currently greatest and is continually growing in the
developing countries. Most declines in physical
activity (PA) occur during the transition period when
a person goes from high school to College or
University. The objectives of this study were to
identify perceived benefits of and barriers to PA and
determine whether previous participation in PA does
have an influence on these perceptions. A cross-
sectional and descriptive study with quantitative
design was conducted. Five hundred (500) tertiary
institution students were randomly sampled from
purposively selected departments and classes at each
of the five government educational tertiary institutions
in Rwanda. A pre-coded self-administered
questionnaire with a small number of open-ended
questions was administered to the students. A
response rate of 425 (85%) was obtained. Descriptive
and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data,
by means of SAS version 8 software. Frequencies and
percentages for mean score values with standard
deviations for each perception variable were
descriptively obtained. False Discovery Rate (FDR) at
5% for multiple test adjustment and Spearman’s
correlation (r) tests were used to identify the
significant influence of previous participation on
perceptions. More than 70% students were not
participating in PA at tertiary level. Psychological
benefits of PA were some of the most important
perceived benefits cited by the students. Most of the
important barriers cited concerned equipment and
time constraints to exercising. Associations were
found between previous participation and the current
perceptions of PA. The findings of this study
demonstrate that previous participation can influence
perceptions of PA among the students. Physical
activity promotion programmes should consider the
role of these factors which should be emphasised from
childhood.
Description
Keywords
Physical activity, Students, Perceived benefits, Perceived barriers, Previous participation, Sedentary lifestyle, Rwanda
Citation
Tumusiime, D. and Frantz, J.M. 2006. Influence of previous participation in physical activity on its perceptions among tertiary institution students. African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance (AJPHERD), 12(3): 287-297