Comparison of healthy behavior in Ukrainian and Polish students of physical education

Abstract

Introduction: This study aimed to examine the healthy behaviors in undergraduate students of Physical Education (PE) from Ukraine and Poland in comparison to the control sample of students of other faculties. Material and methods: The group of 564 university students (67% of males), ranging in age from 18 to 41 years (M = 22.05, SD = 2.49), was surveyed using a written form of the Health Behavior Inventory (HBI). The HBI includes the following four subscales: healthy habits, nutrition (HHN), preventive behavior (PB), positive adjustments (PA), and healthy practices (HP). Undergraduates' sample consisted of 25% Ukrainian students of PE faculty, 30% Polish PE students, and 45% Polish sample of other faculty's students. Results: Overall, the undergraduates were presented with a low level of the total HBI. Both Ukrainian and Polish PE students scored higher than their other faculties' peers in the Total HBI, HHN, PB, and PA scales. Women scored significantly higher than men in the Total HBI, HHN, and PB scales. The interaction between faculty and gender was also found in the total HBI, HNN, and HP scores. Conclusions: The Polish Health Education curriculum at universities should be improved to increase PE students' healthy behavior as future teachers. New health promotion programs should be implemented at campuses and universities to maintain and improve a healthy lifestyle among students. These health prevention programs' main aim is to motivate students, be more responsible for their health, engage more in physical activity, learn effective coping with stress strategies, and practice healthy eating habits and other wellness forms.

Healthy Behavior as a Mediator in the Relationship Between Optimism and Life Satisfaction in Health Sciences Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…In accordance with previous studies, 20 , 57 women showed higher scores than men in HD (with medium strength) and the total scores of HBI and PB (but with a small effect size). Dispositional optimism differed between genders, with higher levels in men than in women, but the effect size was small.…”

“…Total scores (sum of all five items) ranged between 5 and 35, with higher scores suggesting greater life satisfaction. The ranges of scores may be interpreted as Extremely dissatisfied (5-9), Dissatisfied (10)(11)(12)(13)(14), Slightly dissatisfied (15)(16)(17)(18)(19), Neutral (20), Slightly satisfied (21)(22)(23)(24)(25), Satisfied (26)(27)(28)(29)(30), and Extremely satisfied (31)(32)(33)(34)(35). The scale shows good convergent and discriminant validity with other emotional well-being scales.…”

“…16 Studies suggest that university students are at high risk of an unhealthy lifestyle, including high psychological stress, low physical activity (PA), poor diet, poor sleep, inappropriate body mass index, excessive and binge drinking, smoking cigarettes, and illicit substances use and abuse. [17][18][19][20] At the same time, particular health-related behaviors (such as dieting, exercising, lack of smoking, and sleeping enough) correlate. 21,22 Therefore, it is worth researching health behavior to find a comprehensive model of behaviors that determine good health.…”

The Mediating Role of Orthorexia in the Relationship between Physical Activity and Fear of COVID-19 among University Students in Poland

“…Studies show that university students do not exhibit satisfactory health-oriented behaviors in terms of their physical activity, diet, alcohol and drug use, preventive practices, mental health, stress, and social relationships. However, female university students performed higher in health-related behavior than men [25][26][27]. A recent study examined the health-related behaviors of university students from Poland, Croatia, Turkey, Lebanon, Spain, Romania, and Italy [28].…”

“…Previous studies indicated that university students demonstrate a relatively low level of healthy behavior, which is related to lack of the parents' control, lack of enough time, low health literacy, and frequent social gatherings, which is related to excessive substance use and less sleep time [25][26][27][28]. Cena et al [28] suggested greater emphasis needs to be placed on improving the lifestyle of those university students who will be future healthcare workers.…”