Health related physical activity behaviour of first year university students

This study reports on the physical activity participation involvement of students entering their first year of study at an Australian metropolitan university campus. Participants were 780 students in four courses of study within the Faculty of Heath Sciences - Nursing, Nursing and Paramedicine, Exercise Science and Physiotherapy. Levels of physical activity involvement were measured by means of a self-report instrument the Physical Activity Index (PAI) which includes estimates of intensity, frequency and duration. Males in the sample reported significantly higher levels of physical activity than females. No significance was found for the influence of age nor for the lifestyle factors of living arrangements, travel to and from the university, or hours involved in outside paid work. However there was a significant difference in the average levels of physical activity experienced by students enrolled in the different professional courses, where students in Exercise Science and Physiotherapy accrued higher levels of involvement than their colleagues in Nursing and Nursing and Paramedicine. Implications are drawn concerning the responsibility of institutions such as universities to provide training environments that are supportive of maintaining life-long commitment to health-supporting physical activity behaviour, both for individuals experiencing the lifespan transition from late adolescence into early adulthood and for health professionals who need to model health supporting behaviours and inspire their clients to adopt them.