Investigation of Some Anthropometric and Motoric Characteristics of Paramedic Students

Abstract

Aim: This research aimed to analyze the vocational adjustment of paramedic students in health sciences in terms of some anthropometric and motoric features. Material and Method: The research is a cross-sectional study, which is one of the quantitative research methods aimed at paramedic students. The study group consisted of 60 (nMale=34, nFemale=110) first-year students (nMale=16, nFemale=44; male: 19.63±1.36 years, female: 19.57±1.15 years) receiving education at Kirsehir Ahi Evran University (KAEU) Health Services Vocational School in the First and Emergency Aid Program who agreed to participate in the research voluntarily. To determine the descriptive statistics of the study group, gender and age variables were collected through the direct data collection method. After this process, required measurements, including somatotype measurements, were performed to determine the height, body weight (BW), hand grip strength (HGS), and arm mass values. After determining descriptive statistics, the Wilcoxon comparison test and Spearman correlation statistical test were performed, and the significance level was taken as p<0.05. In addition, relevant ethical permissions were obtained for the research. Findings: In addition to some differences with reference to the gender variable (Table 2), several significant correlations between hand grip strength and upper extremity (Tables 3-5) were identified. Moreover, a highly significant positive correlation was found between relative arm force (RAF) and hand grip strength (rRAF-HGS = .707; p<0.001). When their somatotype structures were analyzed, male students were determined to have balanced ectomorph (1.77-1.96-3.05), while female students had meso ectomorph (0.08-1.09-2.24) and overall (males & females) had meso ectomorph component (0.53-1.32-2.46). Conclusion and Suggestions: It was observed that the height values of the students were below some minimum value criteria for occupations such as police work, while their body mass index (BMI) values were within the normal range. Although the results were close to sedentary health professionals in terms of HGS, they were at a lower level than those of athletes. It is obvious that the students had different somatotype components regarding athletes. Based on this research, the conduct of further qualitative research on field workers is recommended as well as introducing some certain physical competence criteria in the recruitment of paramedic students.