Date of Completion

2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy

Keywords

Exercise, College Students, COVID-19

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine the profile of the respondents and to both determine and explore the perceived facilitators and barriers to physical activity of the 3rd year physical therapy students from batch 2022 of DLSMHSI during the first few months of quarantine during COVID-19 in the following domains: Personal, Social, Psychological, and Environmental.

This study utilized a mixed method design comprising both quantitative and qualitative parts, where a total of 66 respondents were obtained through a convenience sampling technique method. The quantitative data gathered from the respondents were obtained through a self-made questionnaire that was converted to Google forms. While the qualitative data were obtained through a focus group discussion.

Results showed that out of the 66 respondents which consisted of 27 or 40.91% male and 39 or 59.09% female, 40.91% had an active lifestyle before the pandemic while 59.09% had a sedentary lifestyle. As for the housing set up, 65 out of 66 or 98.48% of the respondents answered ―Living in a house‖ and 1 or 1.52% answered living in a dormitory. In terms of physical activity, 54.55% took part in leisure activities; 36.36% in domestic; 7.58% in occupational and 1.52% in transportation. Meanwhile, 37.88% were able to perform physical activities every day; 30.3% were engaged 3-4 times per week; 24.24% were engaged 5 times per week and 7.58% were engaged at least 1-2 times per week. Lastly, 54.55% of the participants were able to participate in physical activity through discretionary activities while 36.36% selected domestic activities which scored second highest as their physical activity during the first six months of the pandemic.

The top facilitator and barrier to the Personal domain is having knowledge about the benefits of exercises and conflict of schedule respectively. On the Social domain, it is the support of friends towards the participants‘ fitness goals and too many responsibilities are found to be the top facilitator and barrier respectively. For the Psychological domain, knowledge about the overall effect of PA on well-being and high levels of stress are found to be the top facilitator and barrier respectively. Lastly, in the Environmental domain, having an open space and strict lockdown and quarantine restrictions in the area are the ones experienced as top facilitator and barrier respectively.

To conclude, among the mentioned domains, the Psychological domain is the root cause of the students‘ engagement in doing physical activities. It is the starting point for them to participate in physical activities regardless of the presence or absence of the said facilitators or barriers from the other three domains.

First Advisor

Marivic D. Valerio

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