Quality of life related to health and practice of physical activities of health students

Abstract

Introduction: health-related quality of life (HRQoL) involves the physical, social, psychological, cognitive aspects and the general feeling of well-being. The presence of healthy habits, including regular physical activity (PA) are fundamental to achieving a better quality of life (QoL). Objective: to analyze the level of HRQoL and PA practice in healthcare students. Methodology: quantitative, descriptive, analytical, cross-sectional study involving health students from the State University of Paraíba. The questionnaire contained authorial questions about identification and demographic data, WHOQOL-BREF to assess QoL and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), short version, to assess PA level. All tests were two-tailed and the final significance level adopted was p<0.05. Results: 212 students participated in the research. In relation to the level of PA, 39.2% were classified as active and 31.6% very active. Regarding QoL, the environmental (55.4±15.5) and psychological (56.1±17.9) domains had lower averages, while social relationships (66±21.8) and physical (62.4 ±16.3) reached higher values. The level of PA correlated with all domains, indicating that the more active, the higher the WHOQOL-BREF score. Conclusion: PA practice presented significantly satisfactory levels. With regard to QoL, in all domains the values were average. From the correlations carried out, it is suggested that the more active students are, the better their QoL. However, this correlation was classified as weak and should be considered with caution and further investigated.