Quality of life of fitness professionals in Portugal: Comparative and correlation study

Abstract

Fitness has been revealing a positive impact on the quality of life (QoL) of practitioners and fitness professionals (FPs) represent a role model for their customers in the fitness industry, emphasizing the need to know their QoL indices. The purpose of this study is to characterize the QoL of FPs in Portugal, compare it between groups and correlate QoL with sociodemographic and work-related variables. A total of 388 FPs answered an online survey about sociodemographic and work-related variables and the Portuguese version of the World Health Organization Bref QoL Assessment. Descriptive analysis, t-test, ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis, Pearson and Spearman were used for statistical analysis. The results suggest that FPs in Portugal have different levels of QoL, considering the high standard deviation, with lower average indices than other countries. The lowest scores of QoL were verified in the environment domain. The results of the comparison between groups suggest that being male, married and having a master’s degree or higher were the characteristics with better indices of QoL. Age, professional experience and net salary reveal a positive relation/association with QoL. Body&mind group classes (GC) per week, maximal GC per day, paid and unpaid working hours per week and annual expenses related to the profession reveal a negative relation/association. Maximal GC per day results could be an important finding to help minimize the physical problems among FPs and body&mind GC per week results could be an indicator of the FPs adaptation that allows them to remain on the profession. Unpaid working hours per week has the highest number of significant relations/associations with QoL. These findings could be important to improve the QoL of FPs. Thus, they could result in better work capacity and, therefore, fewer professionals would abandon the profession. It would also have a positive impact on the fitness industry and on the promotion of physical activity for a healthier society. More research is needed regarding the QoL of FPs.

Occupational Health-Related Problems among Portuguese Fitness Instructors

“…In this study, this tendency was also demonstrated through statistically significant correlations (p ≤ 0.01; n = 212; 0.579 and 0.587, respectively). Although females are not the most predominant sex in this study, it is important to give further special attention to this characteristic because, taking into account other Portuguese studies, the differences between sexes are getting nearer [5,27,[47][48][49][50].…”

“…This could be explained by the overall poor quality of life of female fitness instructors in comparison with their male peers. A study [47] found significant differences in the physical, psychological, and environmental domains, suggesting that lower levels of job satisfaction, workplace sexual harassment, psychological stress, social trends, and specific health-related situations were the main factors. Moreover, when considering anthropometric factors such as weight and height, further insights emerge.…”

Experiência profissional e formação académica dos profissionais de exercício físico: relação das pressões no trabalho com as necessidades psicológicas básicas no contexto laboral

“…Importante referir que os autores reforçam que a satisfação no trabalho está negativamente relacionada com a falta oportunidades, salários baixos, sendo uma preocupação ainda mais evidente nos PE sem contrato de trabalho, e a falta de formação contínua. Em contraste, melhores condições de trabalho parecem reduzir a resposta ao stress em profissionais de fitness (Farrona et al, 2021), aumentando assim os níveis de satisfação no trabalho e a qualidade de vida dos PE (Vieira et al, 2022). Sem dúvida um tópico de interesse considerável para a gestão do fitness devido à alta taxa de rotatividade dos PE (Terason, 2018;Alam,A.,Assim,M.…”

Riesgos psicosociales en los profesionales del Fitness: Relevancia y abordaje para la salud mental

“…Por un lado, el Fitness ha demostrado tener un efecto beneficioso en la calidad de vida de las personas. Los profesionales en este ámbito se han configurado como un referente a seguir para sus clientes dentro de la industria al ejercer una influencia positiva proporcionando orientación y ejemplos de estilo de vida saludable, lo que contribuye al bienestar general de aquellos que buscan mejorar su condición física y sus hábitos de vida (2) . A partir de lo anterior, los profesionales del Fitness se con- sideran como un "espejo" o un "ideal" para los entusiastas del ejercicio físico y con ello se ha generado un sesgo ante los problemas o comportamientos psicológicos no saludables que presentan estos trabajadores.…”