Banca de DEFESA: MOISES AUGUSTO DE OLIVEIRA BORGES

MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS AND MAIN BARRIERS FOR PHYSICAL EXERCISE PRACTICE AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS

Motivation; Physical inactivity; Physical exercise; University Health

University students constitute a vulnerable population for compromising their physical, mental, and social health, increasing the risk of this population incorporating sedentary habits. Thus, this research aimed to investigate the motivational factors that lead undergraduate students from a Brazilian public university to practice physical activity and identify the main barriers to its practice. 377 undergraduate students of both genders and aged 18 or older participated in this study, with participant selection by stratified random sampling by course. Four questionnaires were used: one for general information, one for physical activity practice profile, one for motivation, and one for barriers to physical activity practice. The data were treated through descriptive and inferential statistics, chi-square test, and Student's t-test. Of the total sample, 239 (63.4%) students practiced physical activity before joining UFRRJ. Currently, the number of physically active students is 201 (53.32%). Regarding commitments and activities related to the academic environment, 49.07% of the sample reported impacting their weekly physical activity practice time. About the current health status, 44 (11.67%) students reported poor health status, and 154 (40.85%) reported regular health status. In this perspective, it is possible to notice a significant positive correlation (p 0.01) between the respondents' current health status and the regular practice of physical activity, demonstrating that the regular practice of physical activity is related to self-perception of better health status. Thus, regarding motivation for physical activity practice, the Health factor obtained the highest average (5.82±1.01), followed by the Fun (5.18±1.56), Appearance (4.79±1.28), Competence (4.62±1.50), and Social (3.27±1.39) factors. Considering the suggested analysis of the Barriers to Physical Activity Practice scale, by summing the scores of the questions, the sample of this study presented an average of 32.87±14.86 points for the original version of the scale, and 37.83±16.11 for the version used in this study, plus two questions related to the University. It was verified that the barriers: Time dedicated to studies (n= 259; 68.70%), Extensive working hours (n= 209; 55.44%), Lack of energy (n= 189; 50.14%), Lack of financial resources (n= 168; 44.56%), and Lack of University incentive (n= 154; 40.85%), were, in this order, the five main barriers pointed out as impediments or the main responsible for the physical inactivity or insufficient activity of the population in this study. It is worth highlighting that 75.6% of the sample, who do not practice physical activity, report that the Lack of Financial Resources barrier always hinders their adherence to physical exercise.