Predictors of exercise behaviors in nursing students

Physical activity has been identified as a major deterrent of many diseases, and is one of our nation's top priorities for health promotion. The purpose of this research study was to determine whether personal factors and perceptions of the benefits of and barriers to exercise, as selected factors of Nola Pender's Revised Health Promotion Model (1996), predict exercise patterns in a convenient sample of A.D.N. and B.S.N. nursing students (N = 311). A predictive design was used; The students' mean score for exercise behaviors was 2.14 (on a scale of 1-4), which indicates inconsistent exercise. The most frequently cited benefit of exercise was "exercising increases my level of physical fitness" (99.02% agreed). The most frequently cited barrier to exercise was "exercise takes too much of my time" (45.48% agreed). The personal factors of age and marital status were not predictive of nursing students' perceptions of the benefits ({dollar}R\sp2{dollar} = {dollar}-{dollar}.003) or barriers to exercise ({dollar}R\sp2{dollar} = {dollar}-{dollar}.005), nor their exercise behavior ({dollar}R\sp2{dollar} =.006). Nursing students' perceptions of exercise benefits were predictive of exercise behaviors ({dollar}R\sp2{dollar} =.203, p =.000), and their perceived barriers to exercise were predictive of their exercise behaviors ({dollar}R\sp2{dollar} =.184, p =.000).

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Nursing

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Year

1998

Author dc:creator

• Gemmell, Eileen K

Contributors dc:contributor

• Susan Kowalski

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Identifier

https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/rtds/926

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:oasis.library.unlv.edu:rtds-1925