Thursday, July 10, 2003

This presentation is part of : Health Promotion and Physical Fitness in Military and Civilian Personnel: Preparation for Homeland Defense

Factors Associated with Physical Activity and Exercise in Active Duty Female Soldiers

Laura R. Brosch, PhD, RN, Deputy, Regulatory Compliance and Quality, Regulatory Compliance and Quality, U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, Fort Detrick, MD, USA, Debra DePaul, MSN, RN, Program Manager, TriService Nursing Research Program, Bethesda, MD, USA, and Melissa A. Forsythe, PhD, RN, Chief, Surgical and Neuroscience Nursing, Surgical and Neuroscience Nursing, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA.

Objective: This study examined physical activity levels and habitual exercise patterns in active duty (AD) female soldiers. Pender’s Health Promotion Model (HPM) served as a conceptual framework.

Design: A descriptive correlational design was employed with a cross-sectional mailed survey.

Population, Sample, Setting, and Years: All active duty female soldiers (2121) assigned to a large U.S. Army base in the Pacific Northwest were mailed surveys and 1103 surveys were returned (52% response rate). The study was conducted from September 1999 to September 2001.

Concepts or Variables Studied Together: Independent study variables included biological factors, sociocultural factors, prior-related behavior, behavior-specific cognitions, and interpersonal influences. Dependent variables were identified as behavioral outcomes of physical activity and exercise (indices of sport, work, and leisure activities).

Methods: Multiple regression analyses identified factors predicting the type, frequency, and pattern of physical activities and exercise.

Findings: Individual factors and interpersonal influences were associated with sport-related activity. Practicing good nutrition habits, viewing exercise as associated with health benefits, possessing self-efficacy for exercise, and perceiving family social support for exercise were positively associated with engaging in sport-related physical activity. Living with a spouse was negatively associated with sport-related physical activity. In contrast, only good nutrition habits and perceiving social support for exercise from family and/or friends were positively associated with leisure time physical activity.

Conclusions: Individual and interpersonal factors, as outlined in Pender’s HPM, vary with regard to physical activity and exercise in AD female soldiers. Many females do not participate in physical activity/exercise with sufficient frequency to reap maximum health benefits.

Implications: Interventions are needed to increase social support for the promotion of exercise. Education regarding the benefits of exercise is needed to enhance perceptions of exercise self-efficacy for increasing AD female soldiers’ participation in vigorous physical activity.

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Sigma Theta Tau International
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