Open AccessPsychological Determinants of Physical Activity in Japanese Female Employees
Author(s) -
Nishida Yuko,
Suzuki Hisao,
Wang DaHong,
Kira Shohei
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of occupational health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 59
ISSN - 1348-9585
DOI - 10.1539/joh.45.15
Subject(s) - transtheoretical model , psychology , self efficacy , physical activity , population , clinical psychology , gerontology , medicine , behavior change , social psychology , physical therapy , environmental health
Psychological Determinants of Physical Activity in Japanese Female Employees: Yuko Nishida, et al. Department of Public Health, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry —To understand how psychological characteristics influence adoption and maintenance of physical activity/exercise, we conducted a crosssectional study among Japanese employees based upon the idea of stages of behavior modification. The study population consisted of 719 employees (male, 396, female, 323) from five medium‐sized manufacturing companies (50–200 employees) in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. The female response rate was 67.5% (n=218), among which 201 eligible female subjects (62.2%) were analyzed. The study questionnaire included demographic characteristics, physical activity/exercise measures, self‐efficacy measures, and perceived benefit and barriers scales. Participants were asked to select the items that best described their current physical activity/exercise level from an 8‐item questionnaire, and we converted their answers to the 5 stages of change according to a transtheoretical model of behavior change. Perceived benefit and barrier scales were classified into 7 factors (4 benefits and 3 barriers) by factor analyses. The relationship between psychological determinants and the stage of physical activity/exercise was examined by one‐way analysis of variance. Only 10% of the subjects had moderate physical activity (in the action and maintenance stages) regularly. We found that self‐efficacy, “weight control benefit”, “physical barrier” and “time barrier” were psychological determinants of physical activity/exercise stages in female employees, and especially there was a consistent relationship between self‐efficacy and the stage of physical activity/ exercise. Our data suggest that health education for Japanese female employees requires that health professionals should provide support for strengthening self‐efficacy, show practical ways to increase physical activity in daily life, and provide broad and accurate information showing that physical activity/exercise have a good effect on health.