Relationship between Health-promoting practices and the Health-related Quality of Life among Saudi University Students after the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown: Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Promoting healthy living activities among university students is acknowledged as an essential component in health maintenance and improvement. Objectives: This study aims to determine the extent to which Saudi undergraduate students are involved in health-promoting practices after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. It also investigates how the health-related quality of life (QOL) could be predicted from sociodemographics and health-promoting practices. Methods: This study adopted a descriptive correlational design and a convenience sampling method to recruit 542 Saudi students from 5 governmental universities in multiple Saudi regions between October and December 2022. University students were asked to complete an online survey consisting of sociodemographics, the health-promoting lifestyle profile II (52 Items, 4 points Likert scale), and the WHOQOLscale (26 Items, 5 points Likert scale). Results: In the health-promoting subscales, participants ranked best in spiritual growth (M = 2.79) but worst in physical activity (M = 1.82). Regarding the QOL subscales, participants scored the highest in social relationships (M = 14.32) and the lowest in psychological health (M = 11.36). Multiple linear regression revealed that 19% of the variance in the QOL was explained mainly by health-promoting variables, in which physical activity (β = .20, p < .001) was the strongest predictor. In addition, family income (β = -.14, p < .01), nutrition (β = .12, p < .05), stress management (β = .11, p < .05), and spiritual growth (β = .14, p < .05) were also significant predictors of QOL. Conclusion: Physical activity, nutrition, spiritual growth, and stress management have been found helpful in improving the QOL of Saudi students. Therefore, universities should consider planning curricula and establishing activities that encourage involvement in health-promoting activities.