Physical Activity And Mental Health Among Nursing Students In Higher Vocational College

Background Low levels of physical activity (PA) contribute to the onset andmaintenance of various serious health problems in adolescents. But research on therelationships between PA and mental health among nursing profession students ofsenior high vocational school is still in its infancy.Objectives To describe the prevalence of PA among nursing profession studentsof senior high vocational school, and investigate whether PA are associated withsociodemographic factors, and furthermore, to test the relationships between PA andself-reported psychological problems among nursing profession students of seniorhigh vocational school.Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted in senior high vocational schoolof Fuyang city in China. In2011, all the participants from2senior high vocationalschools were instructed to self-report informations on sociodemographic data,dietary intake, self-reported PA, alcohol and tobacco use and psychological health(including anxiety symptoms and school life satisfaction). A total of1005validquestionnaires were retained for analysis. The mean age of the participating studentswas19.2years (SD=1.0), and816students were female. Descriptive analyses wereperformed on nursing profession students’ sociodemographic characteristics. ThePearson chi-square tests were used to compare the proportions of the independentvariables versus dependent variables. Logistic regression analyses were used toanalyze the possible factors affecting PA, and furthermore explore the effects of PAon nursing profession students’ psychological problems. Results The percentage of nursing profession students of senior high vocationalschool who participated in sufficient moderate PA, sufficient vigorous PA andinsufficient amount of PA were8.0%,31.7.0%and55.1%. There were strongassociations between various sociodemographic variables and PA. Nursingprofession students of senior high vocational school who reported sufficientmoderate and vigorous PA were more likely to be male and extroversion ofpersonality,18and the following, Whether to be the single child in the family, theintake of fruit、the intake of vegetables and nursing profession students of seniorhigh vocational school who reported insufficient PA were more likely to be female,introversion of personality. Besides, there was a significantly association withtransport related PA and gender, age,mother education, perceived personality,vegetables、Carbonated beverage intake, alcohol and tobacco use. There was asignificantly association with physically active for a total of least1h d-1, on dutyPA and gender, age, Whether to be the single child in the family, the intake of fruit、the intake of vegetables, alcohol and tobacco use. respectively.anxiety symptomsand school life satisfaction detection rate of32.0%and66.4%, respectively. Adjustthe demographic and other effects of variables, enough large intensity physicalactivity can improve school life satisfaction, the OR=1.46，95%CI=1.08～1.97;increasing the risk of symptoms of anxiety and lack of physical activity, itsOR=1.70，95%CI=1.01～2.86.Conclusions The nursing physical activity status quo in Fuyang vocational collegesis not optimistic. Physical activity is closely related to the occurrence of anxietysymptoms and school life satisfaction.