Examination of adolescent physical activity status, exercise self-efficacy and stages of behavior

Aim: To investigate physical activity, exercise self-efficacy and stages of exercising behavior in adolescents. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was conducted with adolescents studying in Muş Anadolu High School between December 2015 and January 2017. The population of this descriptive study was consisted of 529 students studying in Muş Anadolu High School. No sampling was done and 500 students who agreed to participate in the study were included. For various reasons, 29 students could not be reached. A 'Personal Questionnaire', the 'Exercising Self-Efficacy Scale', the Short Questionnaire for Stages of Exercising Change' and the 'International Physical Activity Survey (Short Form)' were used as data collection instruments. An ethics committee approval and institutional permissions were obtained to be able to conduct the study. The data were evaluated using percentages, means and the Kruskall Wallis, Shapiro Wilk and Mann Whitney U tests. Results: 37.5% of the adolescents were found to engage in a moderate level of activities. In the families of 75.4% of the adolescents, no physical activity was being performed. 35.6% of the adolescents were found to be at the pre-contemplation stage (those stating "No, I'm not exercising and I don't intend to start exercising regularly within the next 6 months"). The mean self-efficacy score of the adolescents was at a moderate level (13.64±6.06) and their mean total activity score was 2550.49±2821.50 MET -min. Conclusion: We found that as the adolescents' stage of exercising change advanced, their mean self-efficacy scores increased. Public health nurses should try to promote the self-efficacy of adolescents through trainings they will provide for increasing physical activity in adolescents at their schools. Furthermore, nurses should provide their trainings considering which stage of behavior change the adolescents are in.