Analysing health promoting life styles of medical students in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India by HPLP-II

Abstract

Background: Cost effective and feasible instrument is required to assess the health promoting behaviours of Medical students from the stressful and hectic schedule of their training in the Medical College. Hence with the help the of HPLP-II questionnaire, lifestyles of first year MBBS students were assessed. The primary objective of this cross-sectional study was to assess the health promoting behaviors of 287 medical students in Bhopal using HPLP II questionnaire.Methods: This cross-sectional self-administered health Promotion Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II) questionnaire study was undertaken among the MBBS first year students, aged 18-22 year, in the region of Bhopal to find out the health promoting behaviors among them.Results: Out of total 324 medical students from 3 different medical colleges, 248 completed the HPLP-II questionnaire. The mean score of this scale was 2.47(SD=0.34) for male and 2.41(SD=0.27) for female students. The highest mean out of a scale of 4, was 2.96(SD=0.55) & 2.96(SD=0.49) for spiritual growth in male and female students respectively. The lowest mean score for female was 1.96(SD=0.53) in term of Physical activity subscale. Except for Physical activity subscale, there was no major difference between other subscales by gender.Conclusions: By adopting a healthier lifestyle, Health status of an individual can be significantly improved. Since this study shows low health promoting behaviors in medicos, there is need to develop guidelines, interventions and periodic investigation for the students for their good health.