Abstract:

BACKGROUND

The public health campaign on the need for people to undertake physical activity (PA) as a primary way of preventing chronic health problems such as diabetes mellitus, obesity and cardiovascular diseases can be sustained through intensive counseling of patients/clients by health care providers who are vast in the practice of PA.

AIM

To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of PA among health professionals at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Owo, Nigeria.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

One hundred and three (103) health professionals (HP) working at the FMC, among whom 24.3%, 22.3% and 19.4% are Medical/Dental Practitioners, Medical Laboratory Scientists, and Nurses respectively participated in the study. They were required to complete a 22 item closed-ended questionnaire which was self-administered. Frequencies and percentages of proportion of respondents were computed, data were also summarized in pie charts.

RESULTS

78(75.73%) respondents were found to have awareness of the health benefits of PA, 93 (90.29%) believed they were physically fit, 67(65.05%) were able to adequately define physical fitness, while 79(76.70%) professionals have counseled patients/clients about the health benefits of physical exercises. However, only 25 (24.27%) know the true parameters for assessing physical fitness.

CONCLUSION

The knowledge of the sampled HPs about PA appears poor, although their attitude is positive. There is need for health care givers to be exposed to educative measures that will enrich their knowledge of PA and how to achieve optimal fitness level through PA.

KEY WORDS

Physical activity, knowledge, health professionals

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