Healthy life style behaviours of medical faculty students and related factors

The university process is a transition period from adolescence to adulthood and it is a process in which vocational education and skills are gained. Individuals develop their personalities and gain new behaviors during that period. This study was carried out to determine the levels of healthy living behaviors of Fırat University Medical Faculty students and the factors that may be related to them. The population of the descriptive and cross-sectional study consisted of the students (n=989) enrolled at the Faculty of Medicine in Firat University in 2017-2018 academic year. The whole population was included in the study. Totally 711 students participated the study. The questionnaire form consists of two parts. The first part consisted of socio-demographic characteristics, and the second part consisted of questions of Healthy Lifestyle Behavior Scale. Independent samples t test and one-way ANOVA were used to analyze the data. Of the students included in the study, 50.6% (n=360) were female and 49.4% (n=351) were male and the mean age was 21.7±2.34 (min:18, max:40). The mean score of the students was calculated to be 124.79±17.94 points (min:66, max:188). The highest mean score was measured in interpersonal relationship sub-scale and the lowest mean score was measured in physical activity sub-scale in terms of behaviors contributing to health promotion. Those who perceived their health status as moderate and good, who perceived their socioeconomic status as medium and high, those who were 21 years or younger, and those who stated that they had a hobby had higher mean scores in HLSB scale (p<0.05). Health responsibility, physical activity, nutrition and spiritual development scores increased as the degree of positive perception of socioeconomic status increased (p<0.05). Male students got higher scores on physical activity subscale than female students did (p<0.05). Female students got higher scores on interpersonal relationship subscale than male students did (p<0.05). It was observed that the higher the degree to good assessment of their health status, the higher mean scores they got in terms of health responsibility, physical activity, nutrition, spiritual development, interpersonal relationship and stress management (p<0.05). The higher the degree to good assessment of their health status; health responsibility, physical activity, nutrition, spiritual development, interpersonal relationship and stress management score averages increased (p<0.05). It was found that the physical activity scores of the overweight students were higher and the nutrition subscale scores were lower in the smoking students and the health responsibility, interpersonal relationship and stress management scores of the students who were 21 years of age were higher (p<0.05). Those who stated that they had hobby had higher mean scores in physical activity, nutrition, spiritual development, interpersonal relationship and stress management and those who had shattered families had lowest mean scores in health responsibility (p<0.05). As a result; the healthy lifestyle behaviors of the students of the Faculty of Medicine were found to be moderate level. The medical students who are future health care workers and role-models of society should be supported in order to make them understand the importance of healthy lifestyle behaviors and to implement these behaviors in daily life. Key words: Healthy life style behaviours, SYBD Scale, medical faculty students.