Barriers to Exercise for Overweight/Obese Physiotherapy Students in Egypt. A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background and Purpose: The prevalence of overweight and/or obesity due to lack ofexercise practice is higher among college students in Egypt, which can increase the risk forcardiovascular and metabolic diseases in this young-aged population. Therefore, the mainaim of this study was to assess the barriers to exercise that could face the overweight andobese physiotherapy students in Egypt.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted and included 703 physiotherapycollege students recruited from three Egyptian uni-versities: Cairo University, BeniSuef University, and Delta University. The inclusion criteria were male and femaleundergraduate students; overweight/obese and normal weight students; their mean agewas 20.5 1.45 years. The assessment tool for the study was an Arabic modifiedversion of an original English self-report survey consisting of 14 items representingpotential barriers to exercise/physical activity.Results: The majority of perceived barriers to exercise/physical activity showed asignificant difference between college students with different BMI, residence, and/orgeographic location. Moreover, this study showed that, the most important barrierfor normal weight and overweight students was lack of time (51.4% & 46.8%),while, the somewhat important exercise barriers perceived by the highest percentageof both normal weight and overweight students were lack of motivation (36% &47%), lack of skills (43%&41%), and lack of friends’ support (38.5 % &43.9%).Furthermore, for obese students, the somewhat important barriers to exerciseperceived by the highest percentage of them were lack of motivation (46.7%), lack ofenjoyment (40%), inaccessibility to convenient physical activity places (42.7%), andlack of time (46.1%).Conclusions: BMI, residence and its geographic location have made a differencein perceiving barriers to exercise/physical activity. Common denominator barriersto exercise/physical among all physiotherapy students, regardless of body weightstatus, were lack of time and lack of motivation. This study can aid authorities inEgyptian universities to better recognize the barriers to exercise between college students, sothat properly designed policies and strategies are implemented.