Examination of the relationship between physical activity level and life quality of healthcare professionals

The inactivity, stressful lifestyle, irregular and unhealthy diet that have emerged with the development of technology in recent years have adversely affected human life. Such a situation has paved the way to the emergence of various diseases and disorders as well as the formation of a society with an unhealthy, unhappy and low quality of life. Regular physical activity, exercise and sports play a role in solving most of these problems. In this sense, this study aimed to examine the relationship between the physical activity level of health workers and the quality of life on the basis of this social problem. The research is a study in relational survey model. The population of the research is 2775 healthcare professionals working in Fırat University Hospital in Elazig city center in 2020; The sample consists of 802 health workers. The "International Physical Activity Assessment Questionnaire" (IPAQ) was used as data collection tool and the "Quality of Life Assessment Questionnaire" was used to measure and describe the quality of life of health workers. The data obtained as a result of the research were analyzed with the SPSS package program (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). Percentage, mean and standard deviation techniques were used as descriptive statistics. The normality distributions of the data were tested by Kolmogorov-Smirnov and the skewness - kurtosis test. As a result of the normality test, the physical activity level data set showed a non-parametric distribution. In the analysis of these data, Mann-Whitney U test was used in double group analysis and Kruskal Wallis-H test was used in multi-group analysis. The SF-36 Quality of Life Questionnaire data set showed normal distribution as a result of the normality analysis. T-test was used in paired groups, and one-way ANOVA test was used in multiple groups, which are parametric analyses. One way ANOVA, post hoc tests were used to determine the source of the differences. Significance level was taken as (p<.05). It was determined that the health workers participating in the study had low activity in the severe, moderate and walking activity categories. It has been revealed that the physical activity levels of men are higher than women, and the physical activity levels of single workers are higher than those of married workers. In addition, it was determined that the physical activity levels of secondary school, high school, associate degree graduates were higher than those of undergraduate and graduate graduates, and the physical activity levels of overweight health workers were lower than those of ideal weight workers. The quality of life of healthcare workers is below the Turkey average; It was determined that the physical and mental quality of life of doctors, nurses and health workers was low. It has been determined that the general reason for this result is the increased workload and irregular working hours, especially due to the pandemic.